Admittedly, my first few thoughts of Kneehigh’s production of Tristan & Yseult were “this is just weird”. Knowing it was Kneehigh, and therefore not going to be the traditional version of the age old Cornish love story, I just sort of hesitantly went with it. A group of hooded misfits calling themselves the “Club of the Unloved”? Okay. A giant swing, some trampolines, and balloons falling from the celling? Cool. 1950s music, trapeze-inspired choreography, vaudeville tendencies and lusty love scenes? I’m in!

The longer the show went on, the more okay I became with the weirdness, and eventually I realized that this crazy mish-mash of styles and elements was completely intentional. You see, the thing about the performance (in my opinion) is that it's not supposed to be a "small l" love story. It isn't meant to zero-in on the relationship of two people providing a kind of tunnel vision lense that makes the audience desperate for them to be together. Instead, what Kneehigh does is turn this into a Love story (capital L love about who we love, how we love, and why, and what it means). All of this is enhanced by the imagery on the stage. The whimsy, oddness and dynamic supporting characters all subconsciously tip us off that there is more at stake here than whether or not Tristan will get the girl. Case in point: the "lovespotters". This review from the Pioneer Press explains it best:

Identifying themselves by a name that sounds like the title of a Morrissey song, the Club of the Unloved, they reveal that they long to join Tristan and Yseult in the world history of great loves but, as the evening progresses, we begin to notice that almost all of the actors become part of the chorus at some point because, at some point, we all feel unloved. We also wonder about the love the chorus covets. Is Tristan and Yseult's reckless, selfish romance really to be envied?

In its essence Kneehigh unravels all things love can be and does it so subtly that I didn't even notice until a few days after the show. I sat down to write this post, stared at my keyboard wondering what to say, and took myself back through the events on stage. Only then did I realize what the show was and how much I wanted to encourage other people to go see it. This happens a lot, I tend to take a good deal of time processing what I see, but this one (more than most) surprised me.

Go. Please go. Go be enthralled by the strangeness and lack of clarity. Get caught up in the crazy and the drama. Spot love for yourself, or root for the underdog... but most of all, go with an open mind and just let the show soak you in.

Later days, love is at arm's length.