Being greeted in full harmony by the Club of the Unloved set the bar for a night of entertaining geekiness.
British theatre director Emma Rice is known for her quirky and energetic theatre shows and the delightful Tristan & Yseult is certainly wacky.
It’s so much fun from the minute entering the lovely Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and spotting an excited group of Minion style love spotters bopping about in the corner to a live band, playing a mixture of Wagner, Nick Cave and Roy Orbison under the bright neon Club for the Unloved sign.
The love spotters, wearing anoraks, balaclavas and thick glasses are all recovering from broken hearts and are there to narrate and observe the drama which unfolds before them.
And there’s plenty of audience participation and mischief making in this wonderfully bizarre tale based on the ancient Celtic legend, Cornish King Mark (Edward Rowe) who defeats an Irish invasion and sends Tristan (John Leader) to fetch Irish princess Yseult (Nandi Bhebhe) to be his bride. A stray love potion leads Tristan and Yseult into a doomed and passionate affair right under the king’s nose.
It’s laughter all the way, with brilliance from Yseult’s maid Brangian (Tom Fox) and King Mark’s spurned right-hand man, Frocin (Matthew Churcher).
The audience is invited to blow up balloons (but woe betide any tying of them!) and celebrate the wedding of the King and Yseult as a smouldering Tristan waits in the wings.
The cast made up of Whitehands (Stephanie Hockley), Love Spotters (Jack Heydon and Nigel Sudarkasa) seamlessly mix humour and deep emotion in this love story of epic roller coaster proportions, with magical music by Stu Barker and his band of Philippa Hogg, Harry Miller and Pat Mora, under the supervision of Ian Ross.
Vicki Mortimer has refreshed the original stage and costume design by Bill Mitchell and Malcolm Rippeth and Simon Baker are the lighting and sound men, with choreography from Etta Murfitt.
Writers Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy wrote the play in 2003 and 23 years later it is still winning standing ovations and leaving the audience happy and on a high note for a certainly very different but wonderful piece of theatre.
Tristan & Yseult is on at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow until Saturday, 3rd October and then moves to The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh from 20th to 24th October 2026. For more information and ticket availability, please visit: www.citz.co.uk and www.lyceum.org.uk.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Photographs by Steve Tanner
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