“This is an opportunity to see a love story from an unusual perspective,” said cast member Kory Kyker, a freshman in the Actor Training Program, about Emma Rice’s adaptation of “Tristan and Yseult,” which the U theater department opened Wednesday.
Rice, whose adaptation of the classic play was originally penned for England’s Kneehigh Theatre Company, said the play is “for those of us who know that love is a trap as well as a liberator, that the pain of choosing one person over another tears the soul and never quite heals.”
Based on an ancient Celtic and French legend, “Tristan and Yseult” tells a tale of love in a quirky and realistic manner, leaving in all the emotions — be they welcome or unwelcome — that accompany the act of love.
The play leads audiences through the tale of Tristan’s assigned quest to retrieve Yseult, the beloved sister of the slain enemy of King Mark of Cornwall, who has sworn to make Yseult his bride out of vengeance.
The sailor Tristan finds Yseult and, with the interchanging of love potion and sweet wine, so begins the all too true-to-life representation of love, full of unrequited feelings, triangles, betrayal and passion.
Director and U theater department faculty member Larry West has taken to presenting this stripped-of-all-sugarcoating story through the vehicle of two different casts. With 11 actors total, each take turns playing leading and supporting roles.
“I knew I wanted that really strong core ensemble and I felt like if I switched the cast back and forth, I would get 11 really good people to do all of those roles,” West said.
The 11 actors perform in every production, but alternate between main characters and “love spotters” — the ensemble portion of the cast whose characters West describes as “so sad, so funny and so pathetic.”
“When I first talked to the cast, I said, ‘I know you’re interested in the principal roles, but I guarantee you by the end of this run, you’re going to be as excited to do the love spotters,’ and they are,” West said.
The love spotters — desperate, lonely souls with airs of awkwardness seeping from their pores — are the first characters with which the audience becomes acquainted. They are members of the play’s “Club of the Unloved,” and they carry with them ever-increasing dreams of expiring membership.
“Being a love spotter on opposite nights is actually more fun than being the lead because you don’t have to worry about all of the stress,” said Anthony Gaskins, a senior in the ATP, who plays the lead role of Tristan. “You just get to go out there and have a good time.”
“It’s interesting (to have two casts) because you get to watch your counterpart and see how they interpret the role and how they look at things differently,” Kyker said.
“It’s kind of good and then it’s kind of weird,” Gaskins said. “You don’t get as many rehearsals, but you get to watch others do what you’re supposed to be doing.”
His first time in a double-cast production, Gaskins said that he dealt with ego issues toward the beginning of the rehearsal process and focused on performing as well or better than his counterpart, but eventually realized he wanted to “be there to encourage instead of break people down.”
“This is a group production,” he said. “It’s not about me. It’s bigger than me. You’ve got to put that stuff to the side.”
A mature approach to “Tristan and Yseult” is asked of the audience as well.
“It’s a love story for adults,” West said. “It’s about desperation, betrayal — not necessarily a happy ending.”
“What’s interesting for me is that we’ve all been there at some time,” West said. “We’ve all been jilted. We’ve all hurt somebody and we’ve all been hurt. What that does to our souls — it’s kind of wonderful and frightening, lovely and funny. That’s what the show is to me. It’s all those things that love is about.”
“Tristan and Yseult”Runs Feb. 20-24 and Feb. 28-March 2Times vary$12 general admission, $9 University faculty and staff, and $6 for studentsBabcock Theatre at Pioneer Memorial Theatre (300 S. 1400 East)Tickets are available through Kingsbury Ticket Office (801-581-7100) or at www.kingtix.com.
A free panel discussion, co-sponsored by the U’s Office of International Studies, will be offered March 1 at 4:15 p.m. in the Babcock Theatre, immediately after the matinee performance. Panelists include Maria Dobozy, professor of languages and literature, Kathleen Cahill, writer and senior editor with PBS’s “Masterpiece,” and Larry West, director of this production.
CONTENT ADVISORY: This show contains mature themes and is not suitable for audiences younger than 14.