FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE RETURN OF THE ORIGINAL KNEEHIGH / EMMA RICE PRODUCTION OF TRISTAN & YSEULT * Fairy Powered Productions

FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR

THE RETURN OF THE ORIGINAL KNEEHIGH / EMMA RICE PRODUCTION OF TRISTAN & YSEULT

With their production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest currently on tour in the United States, the Emma Rice Company today announces full casting for Rice’s adaptation of Tristan & Yseult. The landmark production was originally produced in 2003 and last seen on stage in 2017.

John Leader and Nandi Bhebhe lead the cast as Tristan and Yseult. They are joined by Matthew Churcher (Frocin), Tom Fox (Morholt and Brangian), Jack Heydon (Love Spotter), Stephanie Hockley (Whitehands), Edward Rowe (King Mark) and Nigel Sudarkasa (Love Spotter). In the band are Pat Moran, Stu Barker, Harry Miller, Philippa Hogg and, as alternate for the New York run, Mary Johnson.

Co-produced with York Theatre Royal and Nottingham Playhouse, the show embarks on a UK tour, with previews at Theatre Royal Bath from 11 September 2026, as part of the company’s three-year partnership with the venue, entitled The Director’s Cut. The show will also run at St Ann’s Warehouse in New York from 1-22 November.

Originally produced by Kneehigh and Emma Rice, Tristan & Yseult opened in the open air at Restormel Castle in Cornwall and Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire. In 2004, it played the Minack Theatre, Porthcurno, before being reimagined as an indoor production for the Cottesloe at the National Theatre in 2005. This UK tour marks the first time Tristan & Yseult has been performed to audiences since 2017.

Written by Anna Maria Murphy and Carl Grose and adapted and directed by Rice, the creative team is completed by Stu Barker (Composer), Simon Baker (Sound Designer), Malcolm Rippeth (Lighting Designer), Etta Murfitt (Choreographer & Intimacy Coordinator), with the original set and costume design by Bill Mitchell, refreshed by Vicki Mortimer.

An Emma Rice Company, York Theatre Royal and Nottingham Playhouse co-production

TRISTAN & YSEULT

Written by Anna Maria Murphy and Carl Grose

Adapted and directed by Emma Rice

Cast: Nandi Bhebhe (Yseult), Matthew Churcher (Frocin), Tom Fox (Morholt and Brangian), Jack Heydon (Love Spotter), Stephanie Hockley (Whitehands), John Leader (Tristan), Edward Rowe (King Mark), Nigel Sudarkasa (Love Spotter)

The Band: Stu Barker, Philippa Hogg, Mary Johnson (alternate for New York City run), Harry Miller, Pat Moran

Composer: Stu Barker, Original Set and Costume Design: Bill Mitchell, refreshed by Vicki Mortimer, Sound Design: Simon Baker, Lighting Design: Malcolm Rippeth, Choreography & Intimacy Coordination: Etta Murfitt.

11 September 2026 – 17 April 2027

“A poem to love and its madness”

Experience the original, critically acclaimed production of Tristan & Yseult – one of the most influential theatre productions of the 21st century. Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, this iconic show returns to the UK for the first time in ten years, offering a rare chance to encounter a modern masterpiece fresh and live on stage.

First created in 2003, Tristan & Yseult took the theatrical world by storm. Visceral, playful, and heartbreakingly beautiful, this internationally celebrated production blends myth, music, movement, and storytelling into an unforgettable theatrical night out. This landmark show, that has inspired a global generation of artists and audiences, is now re made, re mastered – and truly unmissable.

Nandi Bhebhe plays Yseult. Her work for the company includes Wuthering Heights and Bagdad Café. Her other theatre credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses (National Theatre), The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic), Twine (Yard Theatre), Robin Hood: The Legend Re-Written (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Europeana (Royal Shakespeare Company), Faultline (Gate Theatre), Ubu! A Singalong Satire (UK tour), A Monster Calls (The Old Vic), Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe) and 946 (UK tour). Her television credits include The Dream Lands, Emmerdale and The Jetty; and for film, Your Fault: London, The Thing with Feathers and Cyrano.

Matthew Churcher plays Frocin. His work for the company includes Wuthering Heights, Little Match Girl. His other theatre credits include Hamlet, The BFG, The Bear & The Piano (Royal Shakespeare Company), Gypsy, Brief Encounter,The Secret Garden, A Streetcar Named Desire (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Animal Farm, All Or Nothing (UK tours), Wolves In The Walls (Little Angel Theatre), Pippi Longstocking (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), Peter Pan, Jane Eyre (National Theatre/Bristol Old Vic), War Horse (National Theatre), and White Teeth (Kiln Theatre).

Tom Fox plays Brangian. His work for the company includes A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Wuthering Heights, The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales.His other theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice…But Funny, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (UK tours), Aesop’s Fables (Theatre Royal Norwich), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Westacre Theatre), Frankenstein (On a Budget), and Alice in Winterland, War of the Worlds (On a Budget), Suitcase Shakespeare: Macbeth, Suitcase Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet and A Christmas Carol (Lamphouse Theatre).

Jack Heydon plays Love Spotter. His theatre credits include The Flying Bath, The Everywhere Bear (Little Angel Theatre), Treasure Island (Bristol Old Vic), Billy Budd (Wilton’s Music Hall), A Matter of Life and Death (New Vic Theatre), Pinocchio, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tale of Mr Tod (Red Rose Chain Theatre), Waiting for Anya (The Barn Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (Middle Temple Hall, London).

Stephanie Hockley plays Whitehands. Her work for the company includes Wuthering Heights, Blue Beard, and Malory Towers. Her other theatre credits include Miracle on 34th Street (HOME Manchester), Vernon Girls (Liverpool Royal Court), A Christmas Carol, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Storyhouse), Robin Hood (Watermill Theatre), Return to the Forbidden Planet (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel (Liverpool Everyman) and The Witch of Edmonton (Sam Wanamaker Festival).

John Leader plays Tristan. His work for the company includes Wuthering Heights. His other theatre credits include The BFG (RSC), The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic), A Monster Calls (The Old Vic), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Bridge Theatre), Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Doctor Faustus, Vivaldi’s The FourSeasons: A Reimagining (Shakespeare’s Globe), Peter Pan, War Horse (National Theatre), Chigger Foot Boys (Tara Arts Theatre), Running Wild (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Orange Tree Theatre), Beasty Baby (Theatre Rites/ Polka Theatre) and Alice’s Adventures Underground (Les Enfants Terribles). His television credits include The Sandman, Britannia and The GirlfriendExperience; and for film, Femme and The Runner.

Edward Rowe plays King Mark. His theatre credits include Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Peter Pan, Treasure Island, Sleeping Beauty, Dick Whittington (Hall for Cornwall), White Horse (Regal Theatre, Redruth) and Fisherman’s Friends the Musical (UK tour). His television credits include The Witcher, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Beyond Paradise, Strike, House of the Dragon, Alex Ryder and Delicious. His film credits include Rose of Nevada, Edge of Summer, Enys Men and Bait. Edward was born and raised in Cornwall, and he regularly performs standup comedy as his character Kernow King (The King of Cornwall).

Nigel Sudarkasa plays Love Spotter. A recent graduate of LAMDA, his theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Orange Tree Theatre).

Anna Maria Murphy is a writer and performer, former member of Kneehigh Theatre Company, and Artistic Director of the Story Republic. She has written for BBC Radio 4, Rogue Theatre, o-region, Cscape Dance and Bagas Degol. For Kneehigh she adapted Tristan & Yseult with Carl Grose, The Red Shoes and The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. For Kneehigh she was lead artist on their Rambles programme and Coastal Communities project, Random Acts of Art.

Carl Grose’s plays include The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic), Grand Guignol, Superstition Mountain, Gargantua, Horse Piss For Blood, The Kneebone Cadillac and 49 Donkeys Hanged. He worked for over twenty years with Kneehigh Theatre as actor, writer, and co-artistic director. Writing for Kneehigh includes Tristan & Yseult, The Bacchae, Blast!,Cymbeline, Hansel & Gretel, The Wild Bride,Dead Dog In A Suitcase (and other love songs), The Tin Drum, based on the novel by Gunter Grass and Ubu! a singalong satire. Other writing includes The Dark Philosophers, Never Try This At Home (Told By An Idiot), Oedipussy (Spymonkey), Wormy Close (Soho Theatre), Faust (Vesturport/Young Vic), The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo (RSC at Latitude) and The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre and Gimble).

Emma Rice is the Artistic Director of Emma Rice Company (previously Wise Children) and is an internationally respected theatre-maker and director. For Emma Rice Company she has adapted and directed A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Buddha of Suburbia, Blue Beard, The Little Matchgirl and Happier Tales,Wuthering Heights, Bagdad Café, Angela Carter’s Wise Children, Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and Romantics Anonymous. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). Rice worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director, creating critically acclaimed productions including: The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. She received the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre award at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards.  