From left: Tom Fox as Brangian, Edward Rowe as King Mark, Nandi Bhebhe as Yseult, John Leader as Tristan, Matthew Churcher as Frocin, and Stephanie Hockley as Whitehands star in Emma Rice’s exuberant revival of Tristan & Yseult.
Tristan & Yseult, Emma Rice’s exuberant reimagining of the legendary medieval romance, transforms a tragic tale of forbidden love into a theatrically inventive blend of music, irreverent humor, and physical comedy. With a live band, imaginative staging, and a playful sensibility, Rice, who directs, creates a production that moves effortlessly between laughter and heartbreak, breathing fresh life into this timeless love story.
Fox (left) plays the nursemaid Brangian, Leader is Tristan, and Nandi Bhebhe portrays Yseult in Rice’s new production of Tristan & Yseult.
The story unfolds when King Mark of Cornwall dispatches Tristan to Ireland to bring back Yseult, the woman he intends to marry. But the mission takes an unexpected turn when Tristan and Yseult fall passionately in love, setting the stage for a forbidden romance that threatens the king’s plans and leads to both heroic deeds and tragic consequences. Rice relocates this legendary tale to the Club of the Unloved, offering a decidedly unconventional setting for a story of desire, betrayal, and heartbreak.
More than a decade has passed since Rice first brought Tristan & Yseult to St. Ann’s Warehouse in November 2014, where its combination of comedy and tragedy won over critics and audiences alike. As Rice aptly observes in an online video interview on the theater’s website, the production “hits love in all its forms and all its chapters.”
King Mark’s bitterly jealous aide-de-camp, Frocin (in the air), spends much of the play plotting to expose the forbidden affair between the title lovers. Photographs by Julieta Cervantes.
The current revival doesn’t disappoint. A gallimaufry of theatrical styles, it draws on Monty Pythonesque humor, pop songs, a dash of Richard Wagner, and, at its core, the medieval romance itself. Rice establishes the production’s unconventional tone even before the formal action begins. The onstage band and six-member ensemble of “Love Spotters”—Stu Barker, Philippa Hogg, Mary Johnson, Pat Moran, Jack Heydon, Nigel Sudarkasa—engage the audience and launch into music as theatergoers enter. Dressed in anoraks and balaclavas and equipped with binoculars, they function as both musicians and characters, a kind of Greek chorus of the perpetually unloved who observe the romantic adventures unfolding before them. Their gathering place is the onstage scaffolding beneath the neon sign announcing the Club of the Unloved, a constant reminder that the pursuit of love is rarely straightforward.
The Love Spotters introduce the story with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, carefully placing the vinyl record on a turntable just steps away from the front-row audience. As the Prelude fills the theater, they step forward to deliver a somber invocation: “We are the unloved. / We are the Love Spotters / Passion watchers / Kiss clockers / Love is at arm’s length.” Their leader, Whitehands, subsequently takes center stage as narrator, occasionally joining in the action. Resplendent in a 1950s-style yellow dress, dark glasses, and pristine white gloves, she exudes the polished confidence of a Grace Kelly or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Her spirited welcome, accompanied by a mambo tune, ushers in the court of King Mark, whose imperious manner quickly dispels any suggestion that he possesses a friendly disposition. Although he initially speaks in Cornish, he soon switches to English to recount the three gifts Fate bestowed upon him at birth: kingship, a healthy heart, and “the gift of a friendly face.” Removing his sunglasses, he fixes the audience with a decidedly unfriendly stare. The contradiction discloses everything: this is a ruler who governs with his head rather than his heart.
Jack Heydon (left) as a “Love Spotter,” Leader as the melancholy Tristan, and Nigel Sudarkasa as another “Love Spotter,” at the marriage of King Mark and Yseult.
Tristan makes a striking entrance on a ramp upstage, wearing sunglasses and carrying a small boat with black sails. Initially speaking in French before gradually shifting into English, he is introduced by Whitehands as an almost mythical arrival: “Look what Fate’s washed up, / Look what the wind’s blown in: / Tristan—Prince of Oceans. / King of Hearts.” The contrast between the calculating King Mark and this enigmatic newcomer becomes central to the unfolding drama. After Tristan saves Mark from his Irish adversary Morholt, the grateful king comes to regard him as a trusted ally and even names him his heir. But when Mark subsequently sends Tristan to Ireland to retrieve his intended bride, Yseult, neither man anticipates the passion that will upend their relationship. Yseult’s attraction to the mysterious stranger sets the legendary love triangle in motion.
The 12-member cast delivers strong performances, with John Leader standing out as Tristan, imbuing the character with smoldering passion and athletic energy. Opposite him, Nandi Bhebhe portrays Yseult with equal measures of feistiness and raw courage. Tom Fox is equally memorable as both the Irish invader Morholt and the nursemaid Brangian, displaying his quirky comic gifts in both roles. Last but not least, Stephanie Hockley is satin-smooth as the narrator Whitehands.
Though rooted in a centuries-old tale of doomed love, Rice’s inventive staging gives Tristan & Yseult a beguiling quality that transcend its medieval origins. Its seamless shifts between comedy and heartbreak make this revival an engaging theatrical experience.
Tristan & Yseult plays through Nov. 22 at St. Ann’s Warehouse (45 Water St.). Performance dates and times are somewhat irregular and may be viewed, along with other information, at stannswarehouse.org.
Playwright: Carl Grose & Anna Maria Murphy
Adaptation, Direction & Choreography: Emma Rice
Scenic & Costume Design: Bill Mitchell
Lighting Design: Malcolm Rippeth
Choreography: Etta Murfitt
Sound Design: Simon Baker
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