The reviews are in for Tristan & Yseult, Emma Rice’s revival of the show she first made with Kneehigh in 2003, now back at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. Told from the Club of the Unloved, a chorus of anorak-wearing Love Spotters, it retells the medieval legend of the knight who falls for the Irish bride he was sent to fetch for King Mark of Cornwall, with a live band, pop songs and aerial work. The critics agree on the energy and on the company, with John Leader, Nandi Bhebhe, Tom Fox and Matthew Churcher all singled out; where they part is on whether all that invention serves the heartbreak underneath or crowds it out.
The verdict: five reviews in, two of them scored and both at four out of five. New York Theatre Guide and TheaterScene are wholehearted fans, calling the show a fresh, funny and moving take on a 900-year-old story. New York Stage Review and Culture Sauce are warm too, with Culture Sauce noting that the antic pace is hard to sustain over nearly two and a half hours. Exeunt NYC is the dissenter, admiring the craft but finding the human story buried under the extras. Everyone praises the ensemble, with Tom Fox’s doubling as Morholt and Brangian and Matthew Churcher’s Frocin the most often named.
What are critics saying about Tristan & Yseult?
New York Stage Review
"A Hot Look at Love Running Cold"
Reviewer: David Finkle · 4 out of 5
David Finkle sets the show beside Rice’s earlier Brief Encounter and finds the same mix of the serious and the silly at work. He enjoys how freely she adds songs, clowning and stage machinery to the old plot without losing any of its turns.
"You can’t go wrong when Emma Rice is involved."
He credits the whole cast, tells readers to watch Matthew Churcher’s troublemaking Frocin, and saves his highest praise for the closing use of Wagner’s Liebestod, which he finds overwhelming.
Culture Sauce
"Emma Rice’s ‘Tristan & Yseult’ blends myth, music, and comic mayhem"
Reviewer: Thom Geier · 4 out of 5
Thom Geier calls the revival comfort food with a twist, and he enjoys the mix of original songs, pop covers and circus tricks.
"…a genre-blending, fourth-wall-busting adaptation of the medieval legend of forbidden love that brims with energy and wit…"
He singles out Matthew Churcher and Tom Fox, but he also notes that the relentless high spirits can feel strained over the long running time, and he wonders where charm tips into twee. In the end, he decides the show’s sense of play wins out.
New York Theatre Guide
"medieval love story gets a high-flying, genre-bending update"
Reviewer: Austin Fimmano
Austin Fimmano starts with the music and the Lovespotters. For him, they are the heart of Rice’s version, ordinary people who keep breaking the fourth wall while hoping for love of their own.
"It’s sultry, it’s funny, it’s tense, it’s tragic, and it all comes together in a breathtaking extravaganza."
He is taken with the way the tone swings from slapstick to epic, picks out John Leader’s Tristan and Nandi Bhebhe’s Yseult, and enjoys Tom Fox’s Brangian as comic relief.
TheaterScene
"Emma Rice transforms medieval romance into theatrical alchemy…"
Reviewer: Tony Marinelli
Tony Marinelli treats the evening as a showcase for Rice’s imagination. In his telling, songs, dances and slapstick each move the story along rather than interrupting it.
"Few theatrical interpretations, however, approach the legend with the imaginative exuberance of Emma Rice…"
He goes through the company one by one: Edward Rowe finds a gentle side to King Mark, Tom Fox is both menacing and touching as Morholt and Brangian, and Nandi Bhebhe makes Yseult spirited rather than passive. He argues that the fun is a deliberate distraction from the sadder story among the Love Spotters.
Exeunt NYC
"A sharp and heartfelt core gets buried under a lot of theatrical overaccessorizing"
Reviewer: Loren Noveck
Loren Noveck admires the script’s added layers, including the language barriers and the loves that are not romantic, but she finds that the Love Spotters frame takes too long to connect with the central story.
"The theatrical elements are executed cleverly, they’re visually striking, and they often bring considerable pleasure, to be sure."
She likes Etta Murfitt’s choreography and John Leader’s distant Tristan. Even so, she feels the musical numbers, aerial work and whimsy keep getting between the audience and the bitter revelation at the end.
Production photographs by Steve Tanner.
For more on the production, see our first look at Tristan & Yseult at St. Ann’s Warehouse, and for what the critics made of another Off-Broadway opening this week, see our roundup for The Visitors at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
Tristan & Yseult is playing at St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water Street, Brooklyn, through November 22.
