TRISTAN AND YSEULT
Kneehigh, UK
Cutler Majestic Theater Boston, MA
March 5 – 15
Ms. Hen knew nothing of the story of Tristan and Yseult when
she decided to go to this play. She knew it was a classic, and the story has been told many different ways. But she didn’t know how fun the play would be.
She had no idea there would be lots of music and dancing and people hanging
from ropes.
TRISTAN AND YSEULT is a love story, and the play is told
with a background of a group of hooded, bespectacled people holding binoculars
called The Club of the Unloved. A woman, Whitehands, a prim 1950s lady
with gloves, a hat and a purse close to her side, narrates the play, and is a
member of The Club of the Unloved. She is part Greek chorus, part tragic
leading lady, and Ms. Hen was surprised to find out who she really is at the
end.
Tristan is the illegitimate son of King Mark, the king of Cornwall.
Tristan finds King Mark and explains the situation. The kingdom is invaded by
the Irish, and Mark kills Moreholt and finds a piece of chestnut hair in a
locket after he dies. Mark sends Tristan to find this girl, Moreholt’s sister,
and claims he will marry her. Tristan goes and finds her, but she heals him and
they fall in love.
Yseult and Tristan drink a love potion and wine, and then
engage in a love affair. They are drunk and dancing and are lifted on pulleys,
and it shows the buoyancy of what it is to be drunk and in love. They can’t
keep their hands off each other. But Yseult has to marry the king when she
lands in Cornwall. She likes the king, but she doesn’t understand how she could
love two people.
What happens with her servant Branigan, played brilliantly
by Niall Ashdown, on the wedding night is ludicrous. Stuart Goodwin, as King
Mark, is reminiscent of Ralph Fiennes. King Mark and Branigan have a cozy scene
while Tristan and Yseult dance in the foreground.
Tristan speaks French, but translates what he says
afterwards. Yseult is a moon-faced maiden who puts her hand on Tristan to heal
him, as if she were doing a type of reiki, and she succeeds in her mission.
Women have been healers in many different cultures.
Frocin, played fearlessly by Damon Daunno, when he takes a
picture of them and shows it to the king, foils Tristan and Yseult. Frocin is
the jester in the court type, loyal to the king, and willing to do anything to
get noticed.
Frocin dances through much of the play. The music in the
play is spectacular, running from 1950s songs to Sting to Bob Marley to Wagner.
Parts of the music are live, and some of the characters sing in the play. The audience also participates during the wedding scene, the instruction were to blow up balloons and throw them at the bride and groom.
Ms. Hen was surprised when the man sitting next to her cried
at the end. The end was emotional, but Ms. Hen didn’t cry. It was a beautiful story about love through ordeals, and the music made it more dramatic. Ms.
Hen gives this play five feathers up, because it made her happy and that’s all
a hen wants.
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