Tristan & Isolde

By Josie Peterson

Tristan & Isolde is an adaptation of the early medieval Tristan saga in play format. The work is based upon a famous 12th century European legend about a tragic love triangle which utilizes a traditional 3-act format and borrowing salient, dramatic aspects found in the Tristan long poems of Thomas, Gottfried, and Beroul. The play's main plot focuses on the drama of warrior Tristan, his loyalty to his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, and the events aboard a ship that are to bring Tristan and Irish Princess Isolde together in forbidden love. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Josie Peterson
• Release date: Mar 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224164431

Josie Peterson

I am a writer and actress who has performed in New York and Los Angeles with professional and workshop productions of my stage plays in Manhattan. I write across multiple genres including dark humor, tragedy, and political drama. I've been writing steadily for the past 20 years and will continue to write novels and adaptations of classical works in the years to come. My work tends toward the experimental side of art and always includes strong and simple humanitarian voices and points of view, no matter what genre I'm writing in. I love being involved in bringing my work to the public and seeing fellow actors interpret my material, along with performing some of it myself every now and then. I invite readers to visit my website at https://www.josiepeterson.net for information about my catalogue, editorial reviews, book awards, and more. Details about my film and television credits are located on IMDb at https://www.pro.imdb.com/JosiePeterson

Book preview

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TRISTAN & ISOLDE

CAST OF CHARACTERS

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MORHOLT  Irish Warrior

TRISTAN    Breton Warrior

CHORUS  Two Men, One Woman

ISOLDE  Irish Princess

TWO SOLDIERS Irish Retainers

BRANGOENE Irish Lady in Waiting

QUEEN ISOLDE Irish Healer and Mystic

MARK  King of Cornwall

GOVERNAL  Breton Tutor

GURMON  African King of Ireland

DENOALAN  Cornish Baron

GANELON  Cornish Baron

KAHEDÎN  Breton Warrior

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Author’s note: the actor playing Morholt should reappear in the role of Kehedîn, and the actors playing the Two Soldiers should reappear in the Denoalan and Ganelon roles.

Time and place:  Eighth century Cornwall, Dublin, and the countryside of northern France.

ACT I

SCENE 1

SUNRISE.  ISLE OF MAN.  750 A.D.

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Two warriors prepare their swords for combat. Morholt, an extremely large boned Irishman, clothed with thick metal and iron dress, faces Tristan, a brightly dressed, quick-footed, and well-built Anglo-Breton from Northern Gaul. There is a difference of ten years and twelve inches between the men.

MORHOLT

Why did you cast your boat adrift?

TRISTAN

Only one of we two shall leave this island.

MORHOLT

Me blade tip is poisoned.  If we strike deep enough, you go down, then the sadness will visit me, young, fair, foolish fighter.

TRISTAN

If that be so, then I shall own the courage in this battle, as a fool knows not his boundaries.  Engage!

The men strike their blades. Tristan assumes quick rapid movements of an acrobat. He moves swiftly around Morholt using rocks nearby to position his blows. Each man fights with all he has, and a clear intent to kill. Suddenly, Morholt speeds up his movements to match Tristan’s. They begin to sweat. Tristan maneuvers behind Morholt and moves to strike him from the rear, but Morholt spins clockwise and thrusts his sword deep into Tristan’s right leg near the upper thigh bone. In complete synchronicity, Tristan makes his most furious effort to conquer by thrusting his blade through Morholt’s head.

Morholt falls dead. Tristan sits exhausted, cut and bleeding, panting from exertion.  Within a few moments, he forces himself to rise up; and, with several attempts, he loosens the blood swept sword from inside the skull and pulls it out from behind the cranium.  His sword tip is chipped. A metal chink remains embedded in the head of the dead Irishman.

Tristan stands upon a rock holding his Pictish shield high in the sun to display the black boar crest of Tintagel. CHEERING and VICTORY CRIES are heard across the sea from a distance of one-half kilometer.

BLACKOUT: TRANSITION TO:

ACT I, SCENE 2

SHORES OF DUBLIN, IRELAND.  EIGHT DAYS LATER.  MORNING.

Isolde, a young and beautiful, elegantly dressed blond-haired woman, walks along the beach. She is accompanied by two soldiers. She approaches a jetty of rocks and sees something floating in the water.

One tall soldier runs to investigate. He reaches down into the water, and gathers up a large floating bundle, anchored down by a rope and metal weight. The soldier drags the bundle and anchor to the beach, unwraps the contents to reveal the severed head of Morholt.

Isolde screams.

ISOLDE

Spirits of me ancestors! Hear me cries this terrible morn! Wail with me, for I am but a banshee too. We shall destroy whoever did this horrible deed to take the life of my beloved uncle. Fair battle or no, revenge this horrid death of a brave and good warrior.  (Addressing the soldiers) Take this fragment and lay it gently on the castle grounds for King and Queen to witness.

A figure dressed in plain clothes, with a lute hanging across his shoulder, staggers toward Isolde. It is Tristan disguised as a minstrel. The soldiers draw their swords and approach Tristan with caution.

TRISTAN

We mean no harm. Tantris is our name. A simple minstrel am I whose barque's been sacked.

Isolde awakes from a daze.

ISOLDE

What is your name again strange man, and from where do you come?

TRISTAN

Tantris they call me, Lady. I traveled with a rich merchant in hopes to entertain courts as we sailed for Iberia and then return north to Brittany. But a ship of pirates tricked us into thinking it was wise to take their men aboard our vessel in the hopes of selling our merchandise. Fighting them off is how I came to this gray wound in my leg. I told them I am but a harpist and singer, so they let me live to see another day. They put me in a little dingy, and I’ve been adrift as the sun comes up for three days now and ragged as the hounds after chasing the stag.  It was only before dawn that I was able to float my body ashore as I spotted this land I do not know.

ISOLDE

‘Tis Ireland.  And where are the barque and its peoples?

TRISTAN

Plundered and burned. Lady, do you know where I can find