ISOLDE & TRISTAN

About the show

Soldier. Killer. Tristan. Has murdered the betrothed of an Irishwoman. Isolde. Princess. Mystic. Revenger. The two enemies now share a small boat across the Irish Sea to Cornwall where Isolde will be given in marriage to Mark, King of Cornwall. Her body colonised. Her country annexed. Unless. Love. Unless. Death. Unless. Both. The ‘Liebestod’… German playwright Esther Vilar’s short, brilliantly incisive play is a savage riposte to Wagner’s extraordinary opera – how can one of the world’s most remarkable, transcendent myths of love be possible? Can we love what we make war with? What are the limits of forgiveness? This clever, atmospheric, sensuous and very funny play speaks to our torn world loudly and clearly. Hovering on a wild sea in the intimacy of the Fitz, the play combines live soaring opera, stunning music, raw performance, drunkenness, violence and passion. An exceptional cast, a beautiful, brutal story.