Memory Aid for Students:

Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 5
Why Do We Do Theatre? .................................................................................................... 5
Emma Rice on Tristan & Yseult ........................................................................................... 6
2. Overview............................................................................................................................ 7
Story Synopsis (SPOILER ALERT!) ...................................................................................... 7
................................................................................................................. 8
Cornish Landmarks, Myths, and Legends ......................................................................... 11
Restormel Castle .............................................................................................................. 12
Milestones ........................................................................................................................ 13
...................................................................................... 14
....................................................................... 15
3. Credits ............................................................................................................................. 17
4. Putting on the show ......................................................................................................... 23
Stage Management .......................................................................................................... 23
Administration for projects ................................................................................................ 24
5. The Script ........................................................................................................................ 25
6. Set Design ....................................................................................................................... 29
7. Costume .......................................................................................................................... 34
8. Music............................................................................................................................... 35
9. Cast/Creative Interviews ................................................................................................... 36
10. Background to Kneehigh ................................................................................................ 43
11. Further Information ......................................................................................................... 48

Tristan & Yseult

Adapted & Directed by Emma Rice
Writers: Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy

I loved it with a passion

The Guardian

Cornish King Mark is at war; he rules with his head not his heart.

This critically acclaimed production catapulted Kneehigh onto the national stage. This is the
original tale of forbidden desires, broken hearts and the agony of choosing one human being
over another. Seen through the eyes of the 'Unloved', Tristan & Yseult blends comedy, live
music, grand passion and tender truths, in an irresistible night of love.
Tristan & Yseult is one of Kneehig

"Sink down upon us. Night of love, make me forget I live."

Production images Steve Tanner

1. Introduction
Why Do We Do Theatre?
We do theatre because it's live.
The components of performance and audience create a different chemistry each and every
night, there is no formula. On a good night we might "gel" an audience, take them on a journey
and leave them somewhere they never expected to be. On a good night the auditorium can
crackle with enchantment and excitement, it's all a delicate and indefinable balance to be lost
or found every night.
Theatre is live
not like cinema where, sadly, most of the audience need a bucket of coke
and a trough of popcorn to enjoy; it's not the casual channel flipping experience of TV it aims
to engage and transport so please: watch rather than take notes.
Why do we do theatre? Because anything could happen and leaps in the dark are imperative.

Mike Shepherd, King Mark & Joint Artistic Director, Kneehigh

Emma Rice on Tristan & Yseult

Simply, 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 life, a universality that touches and surprises me each time we
profoundly recognize something in the situation
someone you love, to be betrayed, to be left and most painful

to be unloved. This suddenly is

tender unraveling of love in all its beautiful and painful forms. The chorus takes us through the
piece
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, Adapted and Director & Joint Artistic Director of Kneehigh

2. Overview
Story Synopsis (SPOILER ALERT!)
King Mark rules Cornwall with a fair hand using his head rather than his heart, aided by his lapdog servant Frocin. But things start to rock his boat. Firstly, the dreaded Morholt comes from
and together they defeat Morholt, though Tristan sustains injuries.
Initially baffled as to why Tristan would assist him, King Mark feels a strange and very strong
connection to this stranger and is grateful for his assistance. To cement their bond, he sends
Yseult to be his wife
Tristan dutifully sets out on the long voyage to Ireland, but the injuries sustained in the fight are
threatening to kill him.
He arrives, unconscious, at a foreign shore and is found lying on the sand by a beautiful woman
a healer. Yseult. She tends to his wounds and, when Tristan awakes, helps him get back on
his feet.
However, when Tristan reveals who he is and what his mission is, Yseult realises that her
brother has been killed by the man she had fallen for and is heartbroken.
Bound by duty, sadly, she accepts her fate and sets out to return to Cornwall with Tristan.
Before she goes, she asks for a potion to help love along when she has to marry King Mark.

& Yseult drink the potion and fall desperately, drunkenly, in love.
They arrive

. Their fate is sealed. There is a wedding.

to King Mark, because

Yseult would be unable to prove her virginity. Brangian wonders bitterly if, on her wedding
night, a Queen will take her place.

gentler way. That is until Frocin decides to oust them.

All hell breaks loose. King Mark is furious with Frocin for confirming his suspicions and breaking
the spell of blissful
kill them. He loves them too much. So he banishes them.
Tristan & Ysuelt wander the forest. Whilst they are asleep one night, King Mark comes across
them and again, tries and fails to bring himself to kill them. Instead he leaves his knife as a
symbol that he is still angry and hurt, but loves them still.
When they wake up Tristan & Yseult realise what pain they have caused and part company.
However they do make a pact on parting
Yseult returns to her
duty, her rock King Mark, who welcomes her back with open arms.
Time passes
Tristan has remarried. A woman named Yseult of the White Hands who loves him deeply. Who
but who brings back memories of his beloved. On his deathbed he calls for
Yseult. If she is coming, the ship will fly white sails. If she is not, the sails will be black. When
unloved,
deceives him into thinking that the sails are black, and that Yseult is not returning. He dies of
grief, shortly before Yesult comes running for him. On seeing she is too late, she too dies of a
broken heart

Will Coleman
Stories are maps.
Storytellers are cartographers.
With every retelling, every tweak of plot or adjustment of character, storytellers are saying,

Strangers) is placed smack in the centre of the ancient Atlantic seaways. Our maps have
always looked outward. From Celtic Saints through Mining Diaspora and Worldwide Cables,
Cornwall has always been connected.
But whose map of the universe are we exploring with a story as old as Tristan? Even the
earliest surviving written versions are merely medieval reinterpretations of something far older.
Through the dark glass of these romances we catch traces of truly ancient mystery.

To find the roots of Tristan we need to go back to when the ancient British language (the early
ancestor of Cornish, Welsh and Breton) was first spoken here: 5000 years in fact, to Neolithic
times.
For our tribal forebears, religion was entirely bound into the fabric of daily life, reverence for the
natural world and the turning seasons. Across Europe the same elements emerge in annual
rituals; the Old Year dies, the Young Sun is reborn, the Goddess is wed. Traces of these rites,
suppressed, secretly passed on, strangely altered, still work their seasonal magic through our

This sacred information of the Old Religion also became encoded in memorable storylines; the
Old King succumbs to the Young Hero who wins the Beautiful Maiden. In Tristan, such motifs
as the battle on the island, the sword between the sleepers and the severed head point to
specific details of how the original rites were actually performed.
Now, we enter the realm of the earliest storytellers, plotting and shaping their tales for audience
ctively constructed
icons that represent real facets, not of the external world, but of the human psyche itself.
So, all those seeking an historical Tristan are unfortunately turning the wrong stones. The
famous Tristan Stone and place names such as Tredrustan (Cornwall), Chapelizod (Ireland) and
not of historical characters.
At the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion 1500 years ago, thousands left these islands for
with them their language, their saints, their place-names and their stories.

Breton bards stitched the mess of fragments into one epic narrative and sang it out across
Europe (this compilation process accounts for the strangely repetitive nature of the plot,
including two Yseults). Once the medieval romancers had a hold of the tale it swept through the
Oberge (c.1170) and Gottfried von Strasbourg (1210) all produced early epic poems as France,
Germany, Italy and England all caught Tristan fever.
Some of the cultural treasure of the Matire de Bretagne was to make its way home to
Cornwall again by a roundabout route. The Norman Conquest is known in Cornwall as the

back in the country of their ancestors, where they still spoke the same language. Plausibly, it
was Robert de Cardinham (builder of Restormel Castle) who commissioned Beroul (c.1200) to
plot the tale back into recognisably Cornish territory centred on the Fowey valley below his
castle.
Over the next few centuries, the English nearly completed the suppression of language,
state. The Cornish almost lost touch with their own history, language and stories. So the
Englishman Malory (1485) drew his tales of high chivalry not directly from Cornish sources but
from various trans-European versions.

unconsum

-book for ever.

Meanwhile, inspired by Malory, the Victorians Arnold, Tennyson and Swinburne were all able to
of judgement or
sympathy for the lovers. Into the twentieth century Thomas Hardy, John Masefield, Sir Arthur
Quiller-Couch, John Erskine, John Updike (and many others) took up the theme, each adding
in their own way to the construct of Cornwall as somewher

and Doc Martin, complete with imported writer, cast and crew, and the usual stereotypes. As
no more use than Jamaica Inn or Straw Dogs. However,
something is stirring in Kernow. a palpable resurgence of indigenous theatre, film, music and
dance is emerging. We need distinctive, diverse, homegrown, multicultural, inspired storytellers
to help us chart our course.
Here, in Tristan and Yseult we have an archetypal epic with an ancient Cornish provenance.
Who better to make a new map and reclaim this venerable territory than our own champion
cartographers of the Cornish cosmography, Kneehigh Theatre?

Will Coleman
Lanlivery, Kernow, 2005
Will Coleman was a member of Kneehigh Theatre in the 1980s and 90s. He now works as
a storyteller, film-maker and educational consultant in Cornwall.

10

Cornish Landmarks, Myths, and Legends

The Tristan Stone is a 2.7 m tall granite pillar near Fowey in Cornwall. The stone has a mid-6th
century AD two line inscription which has been interpreted as reading DRVSTANVS HIC IACIT
as
described by the 16th century antiquarian John Leland as reading CVM DOMINA OUSILLA
known as Isolde. The disappearance of this third line may be as a result of the stone being
moved several times over the past three centuries. The stone is currently getting in the way of a
new Wainhomes housing estate, and may be moved again
Castle Dore is a ruined castle on the top of the hill overlooking Fowey, which is said to have

at the Church of St Sampson in Golant is an elegantly carved gate to the

have given the church a veil or cloak after her marriage to King Mark, and it is said that the gate

11

Restormel Castle
Tristan & Yseult was first performed in 2003 at Restormel Castle near Lostwithiel in Cornwall.
Isolde Cardinham lived in the castle in the 13th Century. A version of the story was written by
her and looking down from the castle to the tidal port in Lostwithiel you can definitely imagine
watching for the ship with the white sails

particular) than with Britain. Lots of Cornish families had land in France, from Brittany to
Gascony, and when the Normans invaded Britain there were Cornish flags among its insignia

12

Milestones
side by side and from their graves sprang two plants, the wild hazel and the yellow
honeysuckle, forever intertwined.
This milestone has stood since the 6th century. Is it possible to shift a milestone?

Restormel Castle, the Minack and Eden in Cornwall, to the National Theatre and then onward,
across the seas to Australia and America. At its heart the show will remain the same, but in true
Kneehigh form, it will have to shift slightly. We need to reflect our understanding of the world
now, and our understanding of love now.
Coincidentally (or perhaps not) rehearsals for this re-launch of Tristan and Yseult started with a
party at the Kneehigh barns to celebrate a milestone birthday of my own. It was a wild and
wonderful celebration of Kneehigh - past, present and future fused into one. Generations of

As we start to tell this story again I hear that the Tristan Stone is to be moved to make way for

Mike Shepherd Founder & Joint Artistic Director 2013

13

Summer 2003
Tristan & Yseult is co-commissioned by Nottinghamshire County Stages and performed outside
in Restormel Castle, Cornwall and Rufford Abbey, Nottinghamshire.
Summer 2004
Tristan & Yseult is performed in the open air at The Minack Theatre and The Eden Project,
Cornwall.
Spring 2005
Tristan & Yseult is re-conceived for the Cottesloe: a collaboration between Kneehigh Theatre
and The National Theatre.
Autumn 2005
A major national tour of Tristan & Yseult visited venues such as The Lowry, Birmingham Rep,
Nottingham Playhouse, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Bristol Old Vic.
Spring 2006
Tristan & Yseult visits Sydney Festival, the New Zealand International Arts Festival, and Spoleto
Festival in the USA
Summer 2013
Tristan & Yseult, with a new cast and set, returns to three venues in the UK

14

Emma Rice, Director, on

There is no formula to the way we make theatre. However, it always starts with the story. No, it
starts before then. It starts with an itch, a need, an instinct.
Each one is raw, relevant and personal. Stories have an ability to present themselves, to
emerge as if from nowhere. But they never are from nowhere. This is the seminal moment of
instinct. This is when your subconscious stakes its claim and intervenes in your carefully
ordered life. I sit up when a story taps me on the shoulder. I respect co-incidence. I listen to
impulse. One of my most hated question

For me, making theatre is an excavation of feelings long since buried, a journey of
relationship to fiction, states that "our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find
meaning in our lives". He argues that by revealing the true content of folktales, children can use
them to cope with their baffling and confusing emotions. My fascination with certain stories is
fuelled by my own subconscious. The Red Shoes charts the pain of loss, obsession and
addiction, The Wooden Frock, follows the slow and faltering healing process, Tristan & Yseult is
a poem to love and its madness and The Bacchae a terrifying glimpse at the beast in us all.
These are not children's themes but I often approach them in a childlike way. In my experience,
our basic needs and desires are the same - to be communicated with, to be delighted, to be
surprised, to be scared. We want to be part of something and we want to feel. We want to find
meaning in our lives.
The event of live theatre is a rare chance to deliver all these needs. We can have a collective
experience, unique to the group of people assembled in the theatre. I don't want the fourth wall
constantly and fearfully placed between the actors and their audience, I want the actors to
speak to their accomplices, look at them, to respond to them. I want a celebration, a collective
gasp of amazement. I want the world to transform in front of the audiences eyes and demand
that they join in with the game. Theatre is nothing without the engagement of the audience's
creativity. Theatre takes us right back to Bruno Bettelheim and his belief in the therapeutic and
cathartic nature of stories. We tell them because we need them.
Months before rehearsals begin, I start work with the creative team. We gaze at books and
films, sketch and begin to form a concept; an environment in which the story can live, in which
the actors can play. This physical world holds meaning and narrative, it is as much a story
telling tool as the written word. Stu Barker (musical director and composer) and I exchange
music we have heard, that inspires us or just feels right. We talk of themes and feelings. From
these conversations he creates a musical palette of melodies and sound-scapes. With the
writer or writers, we talk and dream. We map out the structure and the overall shape of the

15

piece. They go away and write collections of poems or lyrics or ideas. Each writer works in a
different way but what none of them do is to write a script or a scene in isolation.
It is this fertile palette of words, music and design that we bring to the rehearsal room. As I
said, Kneehigh is a team. The shared imagination is greater than any individuals so we begin
the rehearsal process by returning to the story. We tell it to each other, scribble thoughts on
huge pieces of paper, relate it to our own experience. We create characters, always looking to
serve and subvert the story. Actors like Mike Shepherd and Craig Johnson delight with their
deft improvisation, breathing life and naughtiness into the bones of the story, performers like
Bec Applebee and Eva Magyar use their painfully eloquent bodies to create physical poetry and
story, Giles King and Tristan Sturrock tickle and disarm with their tragic clowns. Stu's music is
used to help create the world, to guide and inform improvisation and release feeling. Lighting is
used from day one, the design is developed with ideas coming from the devising team. The
writers are in rehearsal. They watch and inspire, feeding in their poetry, their lyrics. They
respond to improvisation and craft scenes and characters alongside the actors. Layer upon
layer the world is created, the story released.
We lay the foundations, then we forget them. If you stay true to the fundamental relationship
between yourself, your team and the subject matter, the piece will take on a life if its own.
Armed with instinct, play and our building blocks of music, text and design, Kneehigh do
room for neurosis or doubt, these will only undermine the process, hold your nerve, stay open
and delight in the privilege of making theatre.
Each writer, Anna Maria Murphy, Carl Grose and Tom Morris bring their own beautiful and
distinctive voice to the work. But remember, these texts represent just one layer of the worlds
that Kneehigh creates. As you read, close your eyes from time to time. Let a tune drift back
from your childhood or recall a painting that made your heart pound. Remember falling in love
or losing
a connection. Now there is meaning.

Emma Rice, Joint Artistic Director, Kneehigh Theatre - Artistic

Director, Kneehigh Theatre

16

3. Credits
Credits
Whitehands
Tristan
King Mark
Frocin
Yseult
Brangian
Musicians

Carly Bawden
Tristan Sturrock
Mike Shepherd
Giles King
Patrycja Kujawska
Craig Johnson
Stu Barker
Ian Ross
Lizzy Westcott
Myke Vince
Rbert Luckay
Gareth Charlton

Rope pullers

Director and Adaptor

Writers
Composer & MD
Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Associate Sound Designer
Producer

Emma Rice
Carl Grose
Anna Maria Murphy
Stu Barker
Bill Mitchell
Malcolm Rippeth
Gregory Clarke
Helen Atkinson
Paul Crewes

Production Manager
Company Stage Manager
Technical Stage Manager
Lighting Operator
Sound Operator
Props and Puppet Maker
Costume Supervisor
Costume Assistant

David Harraway
Steph Curtis
Aled William Thomas
Ben Nichols
Jonathan Jones
Sarah Wright
Ed Parry
Ruth Shepherd

NB: In the US, the parts of King Mark, Tristan, and Yseult will be played by Stuart Goodwin,
Andrew Durand, and Etta Murfitt. The team rehearsed together as a squad

17

Cast and Creative team biographies

Helen Atkinson Associate Sound Designer
As Associate Designer: DruidMurphy, Druid Theatre; Misterman by Enda Walsh, Landmark
productions (NT, New York, Galway Arts Fest) and The Convicts Opera, Out Of Joint (UK Tour).
As Sound Designer: 1001 nights, Unicorn Theatre; Mr Whatnot & A Christmas Carol,
Northampton
ll See Me Sailing In Antarctica, Non Zero One (The National Theatre Inside Out);
Elegy, Transport Theatre; Of Mice & Men, Watermill Theatre; and Macbeth, Cheek by Jowl
(international tour); As Production Engineer: Disappearing Number, Complicite (international
tour); Troilus & Cressida, Cheek by Jowl (international tour); and productions at the National
Theatre and Regents Park Open Air Theatre.
Stu Barker Musician, Composition & Musical Direction
Stu has worked extensively as Composer/Musical Director with Kneehigh over the last sixteen
years. Shows as Composer/MD include: A Matter Of Life And Death and Tristan & Yseult
(National Theatre); Brief Encounter (Broadway/West End); Cymbeline and Don John (RSC);
Hansel And Gretel (Bristol Old Vic); The Bacchae and The Wooden Frock (West Yorkshire
Playhouse); Nights At The Circus and The Red Shoes (Lyric Hammersmith); The Wild Bride;
Box (Northern Stage);
s Globe, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse,
Welfare State International, Contact Theatre, Liverpool Lantern Company, Travelling Light and
Horse And Bamboo. Recently Stu has been touring as trombonist with C. W Stoneking & His
Primitive Horn Orchestra.
Carly Bawden Whitehands
Training: Guildford School of Acting (graduated 2009). Theatre includes: Eliza Doolittle in My
Fair Lady at the Crucible, Sheffield; Susan in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe at
Kensington Gardens; Catherine in Pippin at the Menier Chocolate Factory; Genevieve in
Umbrellas of Cherbourg for Kneehigh at the Curve Theatre & Gielgud Theatre; Belle in Sleeping
Beauty Wake"eld Theatre Royal; Swallow in Whistle Down The Wind and The Mistress in Evita
for which Carly was nominated for a TMA Award. Both Bill Kenwright No 1 Tours. Radio credits
include: Mary in The Colour of Milk, Lily in Glass Eels, Mary in The House in the Trees (BBC
Radio 4) and Iris in Black Dirt (BBC Radio
Stephen Ward (ALW), Pride and Prejudice (Sonia Freidman), From Here to Eternity (Lee
Menzies Ltd), and The Light Princess (Royal National Theatre).
Gareth Charlton Ensemble
Training: London Studio Centre. Theatre includes: Chariots of Fire (Hampstead and the
Gielgud), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Gielgud), Don Giovanni and The Tales of Hoffman
(ENO), Crazy for You
s
Cinderella (Old Vic), Matthew
tour), The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth (Chapterhouse Theatre Co) and Matthew
! (US tour). Film includes: The
Gregory Clarke Sound Designer
Yseult, The Emperor Jones, Earthquakes in London (NT), The Heart of Robin Hood, Great
Expectations, Coriolanus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Tantalus, Cymbeline, The Merchant of
Venice, A Midsummer
A Voyage Round My Father,
The Silence Of The Sea (Donmar), The Seagull (Headlong), My Perfect Mind (Young Vic), In The

18

Beginning Was The End

ma
Desk Award), Equus (Gielgud/ New York; Tony Award), Pygmalion, The Philanthropist (New
York), DruidMurphy, Penelope, The Hackney Office, The New Electric Ballroom (Druid), Our
Boys, Goodnight Mr Tom, The Vortex, Some
View, You Never Can Tell, A Flea In Her Ear, National Anthems, Six Degrees of Separation,
Paul Crewes Producer
Before working with Kneehigh, Paul worked as Producer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse,
Leeds, where he set up over 40 productions including collaborations with Kneehigh,
Improbable Theatre, Teatre Romea, National Theatre and with commercial & West End
producers. Other work includes Associate Producer for the Lowry, and working for Metal with
Jude Kelly. Paul has worked for Kneehigh since 2005 and has produced: Tristan & Yseult (UK,
Sydney & New Zealand & US) Cymbeline (UK, Columbia & Brazil), Rapunzel (UK & US) Don
John (UK & US), Hansel & Gretel, Brief Encounter (US tour), the launch of the Kneehigh Asylum
(featuring The Red Shoes, Blast! and The King of Prussia), the 2010 tour of The Red Shoes
s Pumpkin (Kneehigh Asylum 2011 & BAC 2012), The Wild Bride
(Kneehigh Asylum 2011, UK & US tours) and Steptoe & Son (UK tour 2012).
Carl Grose Writer
Carl has worked extensively with Kneehigh for the past seventeen years as both a writer and an
actor. His writing for Kneehigh includes: Quick Silver, Tristan & Yseult, The Bacchae, Wagstaffe
The Wind-Up Boy, Blast!, Cymbeline and Hansel & Gretel. Carl has also written for BBC TV and
Radio, Vesturport, Told By An Idiot, o-region, Spymonkey, the RSC and the National Theatre.
His plays include Grand Guignol, Superstition Mountain, 49 Donkeys Hanged, Gargantua and
Horse Piss for Blood. Carl is currently writing shows for Bristol Old Vic, the National and the
RSC, and a new version of The
Craig Johnson Brangian
For the last 13 years Craig has been a member of Kneehigh, performing in major national and
international tours such as Tristan & Yseult, Cymbeline, Don John, A Matter Of Life And Death
and The Bacchae, as well as small-scale village hall shows, including directing and acting in
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Craig also recently appeared in Alaska (Blackfish Theatre),
One Darke Night (o-region) and the short Cornish language films An Jowl Yn Agas Kegin
(dir.Brett Harvey) and KoninHa Pryv (dir. Laura Hardman). Craig has also created and directed
several theatre performances for The Eden Project, Cornwall. As a solo artist Craig performs
under the name Squashbox Theatre, creating marvellous, quirky and inventive shows
incorporating puppetry, storytelling, natural history, live music and comedy.
Giles King Frocin
Giles has worked with Kneehigh since 1987, in over thirty national and international indoor and
outdoor productions. This spring he produced and performed Blackfi
s Alaska with
Craig Johnson, Carl Grose and Simon Harvey which will be re-touring in 2014. Giles is a full
time member of the Kneehigh Ramblers Association: watch out for their return this year! Most
recently Giles has appeared as Stremov in Anna Karenina (Working Title Films, Dir. Joe Wright);
Lady Lydia in The Red Shoes (Kneehigh, Dir. Emma Rice); Hansel and Gretel (Kneehigh, Dir.
Mike Shepherd); Frocin in Tristan & Yseult (Kneehigh, Dir. Emma Rice); My Cousin Rachael and
The King of Prussia (BBC Radio 4, Dir. Clare Grove); He played Frocin not Frockin! in the
original Tristan & Yseult ten years ago and is very excited and pleased to be revisiting this
signature show.

19

Patrycja Kujawska Yseult

Patrycja studied violin in Academy of Music in Poland. Before moving to UK she worked
extensively with physical theatre company Dada von Bzdulow, City Theatre in Gdynia and NonCabaret in Baltic Sea Cultural Centre. She danced in shows choreographed by Tatiana
Baganova and Avi Kaiser. Patrycja wrote music for a short animation "lm, a dance piece Face;
Soundtrack for the Sculptures inspired by the work of sculptor Sabrina Gruss; and cos Test Run. From 2008 she has worked with
Kneehigh. Shows include Don John (co-production with
acclaimed The Red Shoes, and The Wild Bride which toured USA, Australia and New Zealand.
For Vincent Dance Theatre Patrycja has made and toured Drop Dead Gorgeous (2001), Let The
Mountains Lead You To Love (2003), Punch Drunk (2004), Broken Chords (2005), Fairy Tale
(2006), Test Run (2006, 2008), If We Go On (2009) and Motherland (2012).
Rbert Luckay Ensemble
Training: University Of Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia. Theatre: Judas & Aloysus in Master and
Margarita (Complicite); Much in The Heart of Robin Hood (RSC), The Red Shoes (Kneehigh);
The Overcoat (Gecko Theatre); A Matter Of Life And Death (National Theatre and Kneehigh);
Iachimo in Cymbeline (RSC and Kneehigh); Pericles in Pericles and Adam in Man Falling Down
s Globe); Dionysus in The Bacchae (Kneehigh); Maxim in Tale About The Dead
Princess (Jokai Theatre, Slovakia); Baron Firulet in Operetta (Barka Theatre, Hungary); Vershinin
in Three Sisters (Barka Theatre); Prophet Ilja (Barka Theatre); Six Characters In Search Of An
Author (Barka Theatre); The Devil (Jokai Theatre, Slovakia); and Sweet Anna (Jokai Theatre).
Television: Strike Back (Sky) and Foreign John (Channel 4). Radio: Solo Behind The Iron Curtain
(BBC Radio 4)
Bill Mitchell Designer
Bill Mitchell was Artistic Director of Kneehigh from 1995 to 2005 and has worked on many
shows including: The Red Shoes, Tristan & Yseult and The Wild Bride. In 2005 he created his
own company WildWorks to experiment and develop his passion for landscape theatre and site
specific work internationally. Since 2005 he has led the company to make: A Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Souterrain, an international version of the
Orpheus myth 2006/7; The Beautiful Journey, a telling of Homers Odyssey 2009; the acclaimed
Enchanted Palace at the request of Kensington Palace 2010 to 2012; Babel 2012 and The
Passion of Port Talbot with Michael Sheen and National Theatre Wales, which won him the
TMA Director of the Year award. Bill is a Honorary Fellow of Falmouth University.
Anna Maria Murphy Writer
Long term member of Kneehigh latterly as a writer for shows including Tristan & Ysuelt with
Carl Grose, The Red Shoes, D
mpkin. Amongst others, Anna
has worked for Cscape Dance Theatre, Alibi, Rogue, and BBC Radio 4. Most recently she has
written for Little Angel Theatre in association with Kneehigh for A Very Old Man With Enormous
Wings, and If The
s
Programme, working with young people and communities, and has been walking the Roads
Less Travelled in Cornwall for the last three years collecting, reinventing and exaggerating
stories heard on the way. This culminated in a show called Kneehigh Rambles and a Story App.
Emma Rice Director & Adaptor
Emma is the Joint Artistic Director of Kneehigh. Productions for Kneehigh include: The Red
Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Tristan & Yseult, Cymbeline (in association with the
Royal Shakespeare Company), A Matter of Life and Death (Royal National Theatre in
association with Kneehigh), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief

20

Encounter (a David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Production in association with Kneehigh); Don
John (in association with the Royal
Pumpkin, The Wild Bride, Wah! Wah! Girls
World Stages) and Stepto
s other work includes the West End production of
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy for Spymonkey, and The Empress for the RSC.
Malcolm Rippeth Lighting Designer
Malcolm has been working with Kneehigh since 2002. Highlights including The Wild Bride,
Nights at the Circus, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Brief Encounter (Village Voice OBIE and
Whatsonstage. com Awards). Other favourite work includes The Empress (RSC); The Dead
(Abbey Theatre Dublin); Spur of the Moment (Royal Court); The Promise (Donmar); West Side
Story (Sage Gateshead); Six Characters in Search of an Author (West End); Decade (Headlong
Theatre at St. Katharine Docks); HMS Pinafore (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis); The Birthday
Party (Manchester Royal Exchange); London (Paines Plough); Calendar Girls (West End,
Australia & Canada); Stones in his Pockets (Tricycle); His Dark Materials (Birmingham Rep);
Refugee Boy (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Bloody Chamber (Northern Stage); Copenhagen
(Edinburgh Royal Lyceum); Ours was the Fen Country (Still House); A Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings (Little Angel); La Nuit Intime (balletLORENT); Tutti Frutti (National Theatre of
Scotland) and The Devil Inside Him (National Theatre Wales).
Ian Ross Musician
Ian is a Bristol based multi-instrumentalist with around 13 years experience as a musician and
composer. Theatre (as composer): Hansel and Gretel (Kneehigh); A Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings (Kneehigh and The Little Angel); Frankenspine, Mayday Mayday, Orpheus and
the Furies (Damfino); When the Shops Shut (Cscape); and Universerama (Squashbox).Theatre
(as musician): Brief Encounter, Don John, Hansel and Gretel, The Red Shoes, The King of
s Pumpkin, The Wild Bride (Kneehigh); and Peter Pan (Bristol Old Vic). Film
(as composer): Weekend Retreat (o-region).
Mike Shepherd King Mark
Mike started Kneehigh in 1980 and has worked almost exclusively for the company ever since.
Mike is an actor, director and teacher and has an ongoing preoccupation with the conditions of
creativity. He is currently Joint Artistic Director with Emma Rice. As well as touring the world as
a Kneehigh actor, Mike runs the Connections Programme with Anna Maria Murphy, and is a
s transformable and transportable venue, The Asylum. Recent shows as
an actor include: The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, The Red Shoes, Tristan & Yseult,
Cymbeline, A Matter of Life and Death, Don
the motion picture Anna Karenina. As a Director: Hansel and Gretel, A Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings (with Little Angel Theatre), and Kneehigh Rambles (co-directed with Emma
s Opera for 2014
Tristan Sturrock Tristan
Tristan has performed with Kneehigh for 25 years. His work includes Brief Encounter (West
End, St.
The Riot
(National), Tristan & Yseult (National, Sydney, U.S.A), The King of Prussia (Donmar) and The
Ashmaid. Other theatre: The Mysteries, Spanish Tragedy (RSC), As You Like It (Royal
Exchange), Edward II, Blue Remembered Hills (Sheffield Crucible), An Oak Tree (Plymouth),
Salome (Riverside), Jerusalem Syndrome, The Station (Soho Theatre). His autobiographical
award-winning solo show Mayday Mayday recently played St
Spoleto USA. Other Theatre Damfino work; Orpheus and the Furies, Frankenspine. Tristan is an
associate artist at Bristol Old Vic, where his work includes Peter Pan, Coram Boy, Treasure

21

Island, Juliet and her Romeo and Faraway. Television: The Best of Men, The Borgias, The
Film: Saving Grace.
Myke Vince Musician
Myke is a self-taught professional percussionist with 30 years of experience in some of the
best/worst musical establishments in the world, specialising in Afro-cuban / Brazillian / Balkan
folk styles. Baila La
t.
Others include new Folk/ Jazz combo Augisky, Kangaroo Moon, Velvet Chestnuts (Balkan
surrealists), studio project Echo Park Orch who are about to release their 5th album and Talking
. Tours include: S4C (No Fit State Circus), Tristan & Yseult
(UK & USA, 2005-6, Kneehigh) and A Matter of Life & Death (2007, Kneehigh at the National
atural World - Killer Ants, and soundtracks with Nicolas
Roeg/Adrian Utley.
Lizzy Westcott Musician
Lizzy is a Bristol based musician and composer. Her work includes scores and musical
direction for Traces, a dance "lm by Twisted Theatre; Good Clown Bad Clown, Hey Diddle
Diddle and Savage Children with the Bristol Old Vic; Circus Britannica, The Little Prince and A
Midsummer Nights Dream with the Bike Shed Theatre; and most recently, a series of original
songs for In Cider Story with The Theatre Orchard and Adam Peck. Lizzy has performed as
s improvised show Animo and with several south-west groups,
including Nuala and the Alchemy Quartet, Pepino and Show of Hands. She is currently cowriting Death and Treason, Rhyme and Reason, a songcycle for adults based on the dark and
dirty origins of n
first show with Kneehigh.

22

4. Putting on the show

Stage Management
Steph Curtis tells us about her role as Company Stage Manager
As Company manager my job is to look after the welfare of the company, act as a
representative for Kneehigh and deal with any company issues which arise. This is through
rehearsals, production period and whilst on tour.
As Stage Manager my role is to facilitate the director, designer, production manager and the
creative team in the process of putting together a show and be the communication and
organisation within the rehearsal process to make sure ideas are realised and everything runs
smoothly and efficiently.
When a show is up and running, my role as stage manager is very much to act as the ongoing
communication and organisation between Kneehigh, the touring company and the creative
team. With the Production Manager, I liaise with venues we are touring to in order to plan the
visit, inform them of the technical and practical requirements of the show, and maintain the
artistic integrity of the show. And on a day to day basis make sure that the production elements
are ready and set for each performance.
In the rehearsal stages of Tristan & Yseult, part of my job is to keep all areas of the team
informed and act as the main point of contact in the rehearsal room to all the different
departments involved in creating the show. For each rehearsal I send out a report which keeps
all involved and informed in the creation of the show to assist the ideas and needs of the
rehearsal room being realised. For example as rehearsals progress, the director may request
specific props or sound effects, or a certain piece of action or choreography may have an
impact for the costume department. The daily rehearsal report means those members of the
creative team who are unable to be in the rehearsal room still can keep in touch with the show.
I enjoy the variety of work I'm required to do on a daily basis, the variety of places I get to go,
and that every day is different and brings new challenges. It never gets boring. The process of
putting on Tristan has been great fun

Steph Curtis studied Technical Theatre Arts at Middlesex University. She worked as a DSM for
various theatres over several years and whilst working freelance was employed by Birmingham
Rep as DSM for Brief Encounter which was a co-production with Kneehigh. She then went with
that show from Birmingham to Leeds and London, after which she was asked to work on

23

Kneehigh's next production of Don John. Steph has worked with Kneehigh ever since, and
from this initial role as DSM worked into the role as Company Stage Manager for the Company.

Administration for projects

Kneehigh has five full time staff in the office in Truro who are in constant contact with the
Producer, Stage Manager, and Artistic team when they are away on tour. For a tour such as
this, responsibility would be (very broadly) as follows:
General Manager Overall responsibility for the company and finances, line manages the
office team. Works with the Development Assistant to secure funding for projects
Finance Officer Donations, cash flow, budgets and accounts. Works with General Manger to
prepare accounts for the board after each project
Assistant Producer works closely with the Executive Producer in tour booking, contracting,
logistics and deals
Communications Coordinator Works with the Artistic Directors to decide the look of the
marketing materials for the show, liaises with designer, photographer, film maker. Works with
tour venues to ensure sales
Administrator & Development Assistant Day to day admin, administrating events such as
opening nights, plus securing funding for projects and reporting back to funders

24

5. The Script
Some points on the text from Annamaria Murphy
I was asked to write the voices of the unloved and the broken hearted, Ysuelt, Whitehands,
Tristan, Brangian, the love spotters, Morholt.. Carl was asked to write the voice of the court,
King Mark and Frocin. Sometimes we wrote bits together.
A lot of the piece is poetry rather than prose because it seemed to fit in with story, mythical and
domestic. Also, the show was first performed outside, and long speeches and dialogue are
harder to sustain in all weathers. Poems can be pithy and get the story point or emotion over in
a very direct way.
I always start with poems. I sometimes write the whole arc of the story out in narrative poem. I
collect images and make story boxes to help me think about the stories, characters, world of
the piece.
I work with the Director and the rest of the company/creative team very closely: the writers are
part of the ensemble like everyone else. The text is played with like a prop might be played
with. Songs are often created instantly. Sometimes the writer s job is to craft what has been
devised by the actors.

25

Extracts from the script by Carl Grose and

Annamaria Murphy

26

27

28

6. Set Design
Notes on the Design by Bill Mitchell
Kernow/Cornwall is a maritime kingdom looking outward across the sea. The story has 4 sea
voyages either bringing lovers together or separating them. It seemed right that the world
should have boating language. The very first version used a real ships mast and rigging.

active space with room for enchantment. The audience needs visual room to be able to fill the
story with their own imaginings.

t there. What characters wear and what

they hold are the visual clues to story and place.

the story. We decided not to change the set but making the show fit a number of different
venues meant that changes have happened but they are hard to spot.
Emma has a strong idea of the story and how she wants to tell it. She and I have worked
together for a long time and share an aesthetic, an instinct for what might work and what will
leap us out of the world. We also share a love of quirky real objects that tell story.
The Kneehigh creative team is a wide experienced community of artists from many disciplines
who are able to share ideas and problems. This is a rare, valuable but vital element to creating
good work and you treasure it when you find it.

29

The Set
The set was made at TR2 specialist workshops outside Plymouth. Here are some photos of
its design and construction:

30

31

32

Drawings Etc

33

7. Costume
The world the characters are in is a dangerous violent place of warrior kings so Bill Mitchell and
Italian suits, sunglasses and beautiful iconic dresses.

34

8. Music
Track Listing
Along with original music, the following tracks are used in Tristan & Yseult:
Prelude from Tristan Und Isolde
Act III: Massig - Langsam from Tristan Und Isolde
Jaki Rari
Mambola No. 1
Sweetheart Come
Liebestod from Tristan Und Isolde
Moro, Lasso, al mio Duolo
I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me
Oye Negra
O Fortuna
No Woman, No Cry
Man of Constant Sorrow

Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Moises Vivanco
Moises Vivanco
Cave/Adamson
Richard Wagner
Carlo Gesualdo
C. Gaskill / J McHugh
N. Morales / J. Comacho
Carl Orff
Vincent Ford / Bob Marley
Dick Burnett

The Music of Tristan & Yseult

Ian Ross, Musician

underpinning of Eastern Europe with a recurring underscore of minimalist and Avant Garde
improvisations and grooves. It serves to juxtapose the action, to surprise and to drive home the
tragedy.
I play acoustic and electric guitar (with digital delay, tremolo, distortion and wah-wah effects),
double bass and mandolin. I sing a bit too.
Rehearsals have been going very well because the show already exists and we just need to
come together with the members of the cast for whom it is so familiar.
I think this show will knock people sideways. Lump in the throat and swelling in the heart stuff.
Working for Kneehigh is totally unique.

changed my view of art and life and given me a

35

9. Cast/Creative Interviews
Emma Rice

Adapter and Director

& Yseult?

Returning to Tristan & Yseult is, in turn, a joy and an agony. I love this piece and marvel at the
fusion of comedy, tragedy, chaos and sensuality. It is a pleasure and a delight to return to old
friends and also to enjoy some new ones. However, this is a personal piece and it is laced with
my own experience and my own heartbreak. Returning 10 years on, doesn't numb the pain,
no! Ten years only compounds it, with more experience, more love, more laughter and more
understanding to weave throughout.

How have rehearsals been going?

Brilliantly, except for the weather. This has been a freakishly cold May and we struggled to stay
warm in our beautiful, but draughty barns. Still, we know how to keep warm with lots of food,
lots of games, lots of fighting and lots of messing around.

Are you discovering new things in the show? How has it changed from last time?
Certainly. We are all ten years older and that experience informs the piece. There is a freedom
in returning and a freshness. We have also been working with some new actors who bring a
new outlook and a new chemistry. But, is it still the Tristan & Yseult we know and love? Yes.

Could you tell me a little bit about the history of the show?
We first made Tristan & Yseult as a site specific piece. It was to perform in two outdoor venues
only; Rufford in Nottinghamshire and Restormel Castle in Cornwall - a wonderful, circular,
ruined castle, perched on a hilltop and open to the elements. It became immediately apparent
that this show touched audiences in a very special way, that this ancient story resonated
deeply and strongly in the modern psyche. It was spotted by the National Theatre who invested
in the production to take it indoors, to make it more physical and more musical. This artistic
investment really took the show, and the company, on to a new level, enabling us to develop
the musicality of our work and create and tour on a larger scale. It went on to tour nationally
and internationally and wherever in the world we go, this story touches the hearts of all.

Has your relationship with the piece changed, 6 years since its last tour?
No. It is simply one of the most beloved shows ever.

What do you think/hope people will feel on seeing the show?

36

People will laugh and cry. They will recognise themselves and those they love. It will take them
on a journey that will remind them they are part of a community and are living, loving, flawed
and fantastic human beings.

What made you decide that Brangian should be played by a male actor? Was it a
conscious decision, even?
Oh yes, it was very conscious. I have long been angered by the obsession with beauty and feel,
not only that this is not true to life, but also stops the collective imagination. When we see a
pretty, thin, young girl play a virginal maid, nothing is challenged, nothing is opened, nothing is
revealed. When I give this part to a large middle aged man, the opposite happens. We laugh
and him/her, and then we imagine, and then we feel. This brute becomes so frail and so
vulnerable that it breaks our hearts. This is something you can only do on stage. On film, it
would be weird, but here, in the world of the imagination, the audience can be transported,
surprised and deeply moved.

Tristan & Yseult tours to the US and Brief Encounter to Australia and the US. We are working
on a new version of The Beggar's Opera written by Carl Grose and developing a project with
Michael Morpurgo. Exciting times.

We will all have to get creative in order to survive. These are tough times and nothing is certain
any more. We will have to work hard, be bold and brave and try to surprise ourselves and our
audiences. We mustn't retreat to a comfort zone, but fight for our place in society. At Kneehigh,
we believe in the three 'R's ; reinvention, regeneration and revolution.

37

Mike Shepherd

King Mark

(and Co-Artistic Director of Kneehigh)

What attracted you to the story as a company?
Tristan & Ysuelt is an ancient story. The thing that fascinated us about it was how old it was but
how un-judgemental it felt. It asked the question: can you love two people at once? And the
love triangle seemed quite modern it felt like it could be an Eastenders plot

Could you tell us about the portrayal of Cornwall in Tristan & Yseult?
Cornwall was a kingdom in itself, and it was the richest kingdom in the world for 300 years at
the time this story was set. Tin was more valuable than gold, and Cornwall was at the centre of
the world trade route. Like the tin from Cornwall, the story of Tristan & Yseult spread all over the
world to many different cultures and gave rise to many different versions there are rumours
that Shakespeare was influenced by the story when he wrote Romeo & Juliet, and you can see
why.
We wanted to show Co
English
history is taught in schools. Did you know, for instance, that the first university was in Cornwall,
that The British Postal Service, the first of its kind in the world, was conceived by a man from St
Blazey that the first gasthat no record exists of any formal
annexation of Cornwall to England?

Now picture this country etched on a map.

Then regard what you see as nothing but crap.
ght or think you know:
Kernow.
Carl Grose/Anna Maria Murphy

How has theatre in the UK changed in the past ten years?

When we began, Theatre was boring. We needed to make it immediate and funky
Since we first toured Tristan & Yseult, theatre in the UK has moved on and there are more
diverse types of theatre moving in to the mainstream. Companies such as Complicitie, Shunt,
De la Guarda, Punchdrunk, Le Page, Clod Ensemble and Frantic Assembly boldly with
technology, event, site, choreography, action, image and music which Kneehigh have always
striven to do.

38

What were your inspirations?

At the time of making the show in the early 2000s, Emma and I were really into Tarantino and
films like Pulp Fiction: bloody good story telling and great music. This Tristan & Yseult is a
Tarantino version of a mediaeval story

Does the fact that Tristan & Yseult was first performed outdoors [at Restormel Castle]
change how it was made?
This show was made to be outdoors. The structure is invented for the outside: the storytelling,
dance, action and music are outward facing - The direct, honest acting exemplified by Craig
Johnson (as Brangian) in this show is to do with being in daylight and being able to see the
audience.
As the darkness falls the story darkens with it and becomes more introspective - the fourth wall
comes in a bit. The audience become more like outside observers towards the end of the piece

Can you tell us a little about the theme of Love in Tristan & Yseult?
Tristan & Yseult is an exploration of the nature of love: the thin line between love and hate, and
the dangerous state of falling in love. The dizziness and intoxication of first love, and the next
et boring?
How do you make the decision to stay with someone without the intoxicaton of the first throes
of love? When the love potion wears off?

39

Carl Grose

Writer

What was the brief when writing the piece?

The brief from Emma was twofold: to look at the original source material and try to find a story
structure that was not only exciting, relevant, but also to our tastes. We ended up cutting out
probably two-thirds of the original story, which happened to be the more fantastical Medieval
elements - such as dragons and lepers and things like that. Emma's vision was to think more
modern, more Tarantino - which is where I got the idea of starting the story at the end with
Tristan dying (a la Mr Orange in Reservoir Dogs). The second challenge was to write the voice
of The Court of King Mark. I had the court, and Anna had "love". Anna's a brilliant poet, so I
was a bit relieved that I didn't get "love".

A lot of the piece is poetry rather than prose

reason for writing this way?

what do you think this adds? What was the

Yes, there is a lot of poetry in this. And lots of different styles. I think what it adds is a classical
feel, a musicality of text, but it also, most importantly, elevates the language out of the
domestic. I also tried to let the style of the poetry tell story, too. Emma suggested that King
Mark speak in iambic pentameter, which helped enormously. This separates King Mark, makes
him grander and more aloof from the other characters, which I like - cus he's King of Cornwall.
Other characters speak in a rough poetry, like Frocin for example. His is more in the rhythm of
nursery rhymes or limericks. Stunted. Nasty. Childish. So the poetry is "in character" too.

When commissioned to write, what is your process?

It's different for every commission, and very different when writing a play. But what usually
happens on a Kneehigh show is the director will have an idea, and we'll look at the source
material and talk about what's to be done with it. So for Tristan, Emma was adamant that it
wasn't going to be "Medieval" and that I should work specifically with iambic for King Mark, for
example. This is a great starting point because it's specific but broad enough to find your own
thing. With this framework, I'd then go away and start writing. I spend 3-4 weeks writing,
reading the original story over and over again, getting under the skin of it and attempting to find
the "voice" of the writing - which is another word for the tonal quality of the language. This
takes quite a while. So I'll just write anything, keeping it very free. Then, after a couple of
weeks, I'll look at what I've written. Most of which is rubbish. But then I start sifting through the
stuff, to find something that feels right, and if I, I do expand on that. I'll start to pull together very
specific moments from the story - like, for example, King Mark welcoming us to the court, or
Frocin catching Tristan and Yseult having an affair. Once I'm happy with these, and have built
up a bundle of stuff, I hand them over to see what the director thinks. It's often slow to get
going but once the back is broken on "the voice" of the piece, things start to gather
momentum. I'll then work up other moments, songs, or scenes that the director requests.

40

How closely do you work with the Director and the rest of the company/creative team?
Very. Ideally, we've a rough script as we enter rehearsals. It then gets explored by the
company. There's often impro, which can be taken and crafted, and put into scenes with prewritten text or whatever. So the rehearsal period is a process of shaping, crafting, cutting, rewriting depending on what the director wants.

What do you read in your spare time?

Whatever I can. Scripts. Novels. Anything. I'm reading Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon at the
moment. It's insane. And, right now, lots of baby manuals, cus we've just had one and I'm
trying to figure out how it works.

41

Gareth Charlton

Lovespotter & Ropepuller

Describe your role in Tristan & Yseult?

I am a love spotter and a rope Puller. We watch the story unfold from the outside and try and
help in any way we can - be that making the lovers fly, speeding boats on their journey, or
and deaths...

Have you had to learn any new techniques?

New techniques... yes. Somersaults of the stage, and rope flying. As well as brushing up on a
few of my rustier skills... namely saxophone, it's been a while!

How have rehearsals been going?

Rehearsals have been so exciting. I came in at the last minute so all of the cast have really
helped me out and pulled me through into the right positions. It's been a bit of a Whirlwind and
a load of fun.

What do you think/hope people will feel on seeing the show?

On seeing the show I think people will feel elation, pain, excitement, surprise, joy: the whole
gamut of emotions.

What's it like working for Kneehigh?

Working with kneehigh is so unique. It's an absolute blast. The levels of play, improvisation,
commitment, sheer bloody talent, and openness are astounding. The studio is so full of passion
and creativity. It's a hell of an honour to work with these people and this company.

How do you manage to balance the humour with the sadness & heartbreak in this show?
I laugh hard wh

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10. Background to Kneehigh

About Kneehigh
Kneehigh are a UK based theatre company with a local, national and international profile. For
over 30 years Kneehigh have created vigorous, popular and challenging theatre and perform
with the joyful anarchy that audiences have come to expect from this ground-breaking
company.
Kneehigh tell stories. Based in Cornwall in breath-taking barns on the south coast the company
create theatre of humanity on an epic and tiny scale. They work with an ever-changing
ensemble of performers, artists, technicians, administrators, makers and musicians and are
passionate about their multi-disciplined creative process.
In 2010 Kneehigh launched The Asylum, a beautiful and flexible nomadic structure, which
means the company now has a venue to call home as well as being one of the leading touring
theatre companies in the UK. The company have now presented three seasons in The Asylum
in Cornwall, and will continue to reinvent the space and explore new locations in future years
Alongside their national and international touring and Asylum seasons, Kneehigh run
their Connections programme aiming to engage creatively with communities in Cornwall and
beyond through event and adventure

The Kneehigh Mission

We have a commitment to the ongoing spiritual health of ourselves, our community and the
theatre. We want to collaborate with our fellow human beings, whether they are adults or
children, professionals or outsiders and are hungry to meet and work with new and vivid people
from different backgrounds. We want to create event and offer experiences that can profoundly
change people's lives. We want to create relevant, innovative and emotionally charged work, to
reach out in meaningful ways to the non-theatre going community, to build a non-elite audience
and to celebrate our delicious time on the planet.

The Kneehigh Manifesto

We are inspired by Cornwall and calmed by Cornwall. Here, we dedicate ourselves to thinking
outside the constraints of fear and neurosis. We fight for our process and each other. We
believe in the principles of play, generosity, vulnerability, ambition, bravery, anarchy and instinct.
We profoundly believe that human beings are capable of anything and push ourselves to find
new depths, new joys and new excitements in our relationship to our work and our audience.

43

The Barns
We are based in a collection of barns on the south Cornish coast, they are at the top of a hill
where the road ends and a vast horizon stretches far beyond Dodman Point. By their very
nature the barns let the weather in and out again. A large multi-fuel burner needs to be stoked
and fed for rehearsals; there is no mobile phone reception and nowhere to pop out for a
cappuccino or a snack. The isolation of the barns,
and the need to cook and keep warm provides a
real and natural focus for our flights of imagination.
This is not a conceit; it is a radical choice that
informs all aspects of our work. Although much of
our work is now co-produced with larger theatres,
we always try to start the creative process at these
barns, to be inspired by our environment and
where we work. This creative space is at the heart
of how we create and conceive our work.

The Asylum
a tent, but no ordinary tent. A dramatic 12 metres high,
the Asylum offers 1200 square metres of light, versatile performance space with room for up to
1000 people
Around 1500 metres of architectural fabric covers the 20-ton structure. I
- the
be erected within days using only manpower and basic site equipment. But this is mobile
architecture on a grand scale.
It was designed and built by Gil Gillilan of the Dome Company. The Asylum, its largest project
to date,
ombining conventional and new materials to create a
structure which is both completely modern and rooted in tr
The Asylum consists of two geodesic half domes bridged by a cathedral-like fabric atrium, with
a soaring, vaulted roof supported by a geometry of leaning arches. The twin half domes are
built of curved, laminated timber beams (using timber from sustainable sources) and galvanised
steel anchors and connectors, the arched auditorium is supported by aluminium trusses, and
the entire structure is tented with acrylic-coated polyester.
as an open-air theatre, and
a few days, on any surface, using several different configurations. The wall behind the stage
can be dropped, transforming the landscape into a natural backdrop.

44

versatile, more flexible, than a fixed thea

Connections Programme
reChinese rule or engaging young mums from West Penwith.
We passionately believe that theatre has the power to transform; that it can help us to imagine,
console, inspire, understand, engage, entertain and feel part of a community. And yet, certain
groups are unable to engage due to financial or social barriers.
Our Connections Programme continues our proud tradition of working with communities by
providing greater access to Kneehigh in our home county. Working with a variety of community,
voluntary and social organizations, we reach out to people from all walks of life by providing
free tickets, running workshops and offering opportunities to work with artists.

Previous Shows (2000

2013)

The Red Shoes

2000 & 2010

Winner of the TMA Award for Best Director 2002

2002
Co-Produced with Northern Stage
Conceived & Created by Emma Rice and Neil Murray
Text by Margaret Wilkinson
The Wooden Frock
2003
Co-produced with Battersea Arts Centre in association with West Yorkshire Playhouse
Directed by Emma Rice
Adapted by Emma Rice and Tom Morris

Nominated for the TMA Award for Best Touring Production 2004
Tristan & Yseult
2003 2013
Directed & adapted by Emma Rice
Written by Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy

Nominated for the TMA Award for Best Touring Production 2004

45

The Bacchae
2004
Directed By Emma Rice
Written by Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy

Winner of the TMA Award for Best Touring Production 2004

Nights at the Circus
2005
Lyric Hammersmith, Bristol Old Vic in association with Kneehigh Theatre
Based on the novel by Angela Carter
A new adaptation by Tom Morris and Emma Rice
Rapunzel
2006
A Kneehigh Theatre and BAC Co-Production
By Annie Siddons
Directed by Emma Rice
Cymbeline
2006
Kneehigh Theatre in association with the RSC
Co-commissioned by Nottingham County Council STAGES
Directed and freely adapted by Emma Rice, written by Carl Grose
Inspired by William Shakespeare
A Matter of Life and Death
2007
Based on the film by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
A Royal National Theatre Production
Directed by Emma Rice
Written by Tom Morris & Emma Rice
Brief Encounter
2007 2010
Originally produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Cineworld
By Noel Coward
Adapted & directed by Emma Rice

Winner of the TMA Award for Best Touring Production 2009

Don John
2008 2009
Kneehigh Theatre in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Bristol Old Vic
Directed & adapted by Emma Rice
Written by Anna Murphy

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Hansel & Gretel

2009 -2010
Co-produced with Bristol Old Vic
Directed & Adapted by Mike Shepherd
The Wild Bride
2011-2013
Adapted and Directed by Emma Rice
Words by Carl Grose

2011-2012
Directed by Mike Shepherd and Emma Rice
Steptoe and Son
2012
By Ray Galton & Alan Simpson
Adapted and Directed by Emma Rice
A Kneehigh and West Yorkshire Playhouse co-production

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11. Further Information

The Tristan & Yseult Tour Programme
Available from venues or by calling 01872 267910. Contains programme notes by Emma Rice,
company biographies, and production photos by Steve Tanner, along with general information
about Kneehigh (and loveheart sweets!)

The Kneehigh Website

(http://www.kneehigh.co.uk) Our website has lots of information about past shows, including
ts, photos and lots more. Kneehigh Friends can access the

The Book
th

anniversary, The Book is lovingly researched and beautifully

produced, and chronicles three decades of inspiring and groundbreaking work in sections
including Home, Story, Wonder, Love, Bravery, Naughtiness, and Imagine. It is available to
buy on our website, or by calling the office on 01872 267910

Inspiration
Bettelheim, Bruno: The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy
Tales Knopf, New York (1976)

Kneehigh Scripts
Kneehigh's Anthology - a collection of recent work: Tristan & Yseult, The Bacchae, The
Wooden Frock & The Red Shoes. ISBN No. 1-84002-564-6
Hansel & Gretel in association with the Bristol Old Vic, written by Carl Grose
Cymbeline - produced in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company for the Complete
Works Festival.
Rapunzel - A BAC and Kneehigh Theatre co-production, written by Annie Siddons.
Nights at the Circus - A Lyric Hammersmith and Bristol Old Vic production in association with
Kneehigh.
If you would like to buy a copy of any of these scripts please contact Oberon Books Ltd
www.oberonbooks.com ;+44 (0)20 7607 3637; info@oberonbooks.com

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15 Walsingham Place, Truro, Cornwall TR1 2RP, UK

Phone: (+44) 01872 267 910
Email: office@kneehigh.co.uk
Web: www.kneehigh.co.uk
Registered in England Company No. 1792824 VAT Reg. No. 462 9740 23. Kneehigh Theatre is a registered
charity (no. 290218) and is supported by Arts Council England and Cornwall County Council

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