Memory Aid for Students - Kneehigh [PDF]

Memory Aid for Students:

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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 Matière de Bretagne was to make its way home to Cornwall again by a roundabout route. The Norman Conquest is known in Cornwall as the

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Emma Rice, Director, on

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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

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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

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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 Róbert 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

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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

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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.

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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). Róbert 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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Extracts from the script by Carl Grose and Annamaria Murphy

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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.

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

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Drawings Etc

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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.

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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

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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; [email protected]

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15 Walsingham Place, Truro, Cornwall TR1 2RP, UK Phone: (+44) 01872 267 910 Email: [email protected] 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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