Last night at the What’s On Stage Awards, Life of Pi was announced as the winner of Best New Play.
This year Ticketmaster were honoured to have sponsored the Best New Play award at What’s On Stage Awards which celebrates the quality of productions from companies big and small.
Not just focussed on the glitz and glamour of the West End, the nominees this year originally found acclaim in some of the country’s most celebrated regional theatres, including Life of Pi’s Sheffield’s Crucible.
In a video acceptance speech, playwright Lolita Chakrabarti thanked the cast, crew and creatives who in her words worked tirelessly to make the enormous script work, a well as the Director Max Webster, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Rob Hastie, Producer Simon Friend, author Yann Martel and the audiences at Sheffield Crucible.
Also nominated were:
- The Doctor by Robert Icke (Almeida Theatre)
- The Son by Florian Zeller (Kiln Theatre/Duke Of York’s Theatre)
- My Beautiful Laundrette by Hanif Kureishi (A Curve Leicester, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and Leeds Playhouse co-production)
- Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Donmar Warehouse)
About Life of Pi
Set to transfer from Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre to London’s West End at the end of June 2020, Life Of Pi presents Yann Martel’s international bestseller as a visual masterpiece. Having already received the big screen treatment thanks to director Ang Lee, the story follows Piscine as he finds himself stranded on a small lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger. The animals are brought to life through Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes’ puppetry, with Sri Lankan born Hiran Abeysekera reprising his acclaimed lead role for the West End. Described by The Guardian as an unmissable and extraordinary journey, Life Of Pi will see London’s Wyndham’s Theatre transformed, extending the stage over the stalls to make the theatre a single, immersive environment.
For more information on all of this year’s nominated plays, click here.
