February 27, 2015 | Theatre,

A Note From The Director Of Tristan & Yseult

I love this production. It is one of those rare shows that is greater than the sum of its
parts. It has taken on a universality that touches and surprises me each time we perform
it. As the story unfolds, I realize there is not one person in the audience who doesn’t profoundly
recognize something in the situation: to love someone that you shouldn’t, to betray
someone you love, to be betrayed, to be left and most painful of all—to be unloved. This
is not an epic tale of grand romantic love, held at arm’s length from our own experience,
but a tender unravelling of love in all its beautiful and painful forms. The chorus takes us
through the piece, a band of “lovespotters,” or the unloved. These are the people who look
in on life, who are not chosen to play the starring role—these are at the heart of this production
because, if we have all known love, we have also known the opposite. —Emma Rice