Life of Pi at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Yann Martel's Man Booker Prize-winning epic adventure of endurance and hope is so beautifully written that it must have provided the best material on which Lolita Chakrabarti could base her adaptation.

But it was written with such imagination and incredulous scenes that Chakrabarti no doubt had an epic adventure herself to bring it to the stage.

Five Olivier Awards, including Best New Play, later, and after conquering London's West End as well as Broadway, Pi's story of his/her family's fateful journey to Canada with their zoo unfolds in Edinburgh this week after almost a year on the road. And what a privilege it was to see it.

Sheffield Theatres' production is truly spectacular. Tim Hatley's staging, Tim Lutkin and Tim Deiling's lighting, Andrzej Goulding's video designs and Carolyn Downing's sound, transport us to places we can only dream of – from a colourful India with its tropical backdrop, sights and sounds so real you can almost smell the spices, to a cargo ship and the terrific storm with its driving rain and battering winds which results in Pi being shipwrecked on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days with only four other survivors – a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Of course, the tiger soon sees off his three animal companions.

I am always in awe of the puppeteers who perform in Britain's theatres, and those bringing Nick Barnes' tiger to life in particular are magnificent. Her entrance is terrifying; her growls spine-chilling, while my heart went out to the other 'animals' as they were ripped apart by her.

The part of Pi is alternating between Divesh Subaskaran and Adwitha Arumugam but this week Sonya Venugopal stepped into the leading role and delivered a truly accomplished performance as the 17-year-old Pi living through her ordeal again for the authorities. As excellent as the rest of the cast are, she really stands out as the star of the show.

Life of Pi is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh until June 29

Box Office: 0131 529 6000

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It then ends its extensive tour at The Lowry Theatre Salford July 2-6