When Tristan Sturrock's parents were seeking a name with Cornish connections for their newborn son, they were drawn to the age-old story of Tristan and Iseult.
It could be said that as an actor Tristan was destined to play that romantic and tragic role on stage when Cornwall's Kneehigh Theatre first presented it ten years ago in the eerie outdoor arena of the ruined Restormel Castle at Lostwithiel.
A whole decade later, Tristan is delighted to be back to play the enigmatic hero of this modern take on a mythical tale of politics and love on a tour that comes to Hall for Cornwall later this month.
It's a show that is held dear by all who took part in the original production and most are in place for this long-awaited revival. That includes director Emma Rice, company founder Mike Shepherd as the Cornish King Mark, plus Giles King and Craig Johnson as King Mark's right hand man Frocin and Yseult's long-suffering "lady"-in-waiting Brangian, and musicians Stu Barker and Ian Ross.
They are joined by Carly Boardman who was just starring opposite Dominic West in My Fair Lady, as Whitehands, and as Yseult, the beautiful and tragic heroine, Patrycja Kujawska. And Tristan, of course.
"I was always proud that I was named after this rather obscure story and it holds a huge connection for me. The show is linked with me in a series of ways which is rather weird and completely normal at the same time," reveals Tristan on the phone from West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds where the company were rehearsing, before opening there tonight.
Having attracted rave reviews for his original performances, Tristan was due to start touring with Tristan and Iseult in spring 2004 when he broke his neck falling off a wall on May Day in Padstow.
He arrives at the Kneehigh revival hotfoot from a New York residency and a Spoleto Festival run with his highly acclaimed, autobiographical play Mayday, Mayday – the story of his journey after that fateful fall, when he was paralysed in hospital, about to become a father for the first time, and told he may never walk again.
"So much has changed; we are all that bit older and different now," muses Tristan, who did reprise the role in 2006 after his recovery.
Mike Shepherd agrees: "The company are older and most on their second marriages, but we do feel so lucky to go back to a piece of work with lots of old friends... and some new ones, of course. But it's pretty much the same team – Emma calls us 'the old duffers'.
"The biggest reason to revisit it is that people still really want to see it; it feels like a privilege to put it out there. The reason the company has survived so long is that we keep in touch withe the marketplace. We remain hungry to make new work but with lack of grant funding that can be quite difficult; people don't have the money any more. Taking Tristan and Iseult, and also Brief Encounter, back out on tour, creates the funds to develop new projects."
The returnees have all found it quite easy to slip back in time, spurred along by a soundtrack of hair-raising Wagner, alongside dark Nick Cave and driving jazz grooves.
"The script was never written and we only had one scrabbled video from when we played it at the National. All the little bits and bobs we did all that time ago were never written down, so it's more like creating something from an aural history," says Tristan.
"All the things I hadn't thought about for years are just there, lodged in my brain cells somewhere."
"I think it's very important that we come back to Cornwall with this," says Tristan, who is thrilled to be making his Hall for Cornwall debut.
"It's a first for me."
Kneehigh's Tristan and Yseult is at Hall for Cornwall from Tuesday, June 25 to Saturday, June 29, with performances at 7.30pm and a 2.30pm matinee on Thursday and Saturday. Visit.hallforcornwall.co.uk to book.