“Game of Thrones” has nothing on “The Death of Kings.” Indeed, a case could possibly be made for the latter as the unique royal epic.

Tracing the arc of early English historical past, it’s a super-charged smorgasbord of scandal, betrayal and vengeance centered on the rise and fall of a few of historical past’s most famous and infamous monarchs and vivid characters — King Richard III, Queen Margaret, Prince Hal/King Henry V, Joan of Arc, Sir John Falstaff and King Henry IV, to call a number of.

From the inventive thoughts of UC Santa Barbara’s Irwin Appel, by the use of one William Shakespeare, the manufacturing condenses The Bard’s eight historical past performs into one opus.

The unique “The Death of Kings” blended “Richard II,” “Henry IV” (components 1 and a pair of) “Henry V,” “Henry VI” (components 1, 2 and three), and “Richard III” into two self-contained performs that could possibly be seen in both order, with a complete operating time shy of six hours.

Adapted and directed by Appel, it was produced in repertory in 2016 by UCSB’s Naked Shakes efficiency group, throughout the Department of Theater and Dance, successful a number of awards regionally and from Broadway World journal for adaptation, path, design and efficiency. 

About a yr later in Europe, Appel debuted an abridged model “The Death of Kings: Seize the Crown,” including narration and a few new materials to a single 90-minute manufacturing.

And now, for 2023, this: an evolution of “The Death of Kings,” with excerpts from each components of the unique and from “Seize the Crown.”

Material has been revised, extra characters included, new choreography applied and new music included. It opens this week, enjoying for 3 nights (Aug. 22, 23 and 24) on campus on the Hatlen Theater earlier than happening the street. Or, reasonably, into the skies.

Naked Shakes has been invited to carry out “The Death of Kings” on the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival in Verona, Italy, the place will probably be the closing act. The week-long pageant is a part of the distinguished European Shakespeare Festival community, and options innovative Shakespearean work from the international locations of England, Sweden, Romania, Macedonia, Georgia and the United States.

A forged of 13 actors will take the stage, joined by a full refrain of storytellers and narrators, in a collaborative manufacturing that additionally options unique musical compositions from particular visitor artist Jim Connolly, fight sequences from Sean O’Shea, costumes and choreography from Christina McCarthy, and lighting design from Vickie Scott.

“As a UC Santa Barbara professor, I believe so strongly in our students expanding their scope and experience out in the world,” mentioned Appel, who based Naked Shakes in 2006.

“We have built a wonderful partnership with the Prague Shakespeare Company in Prague, Czech Republic, where earlier this summer, over 20 of our students traveled to study and perform Shakespeare in a month-long intensive,” he mentioned. “Now, lots of these college students can be going again to Europe with ‘The Death of Kings.’ 

“I believe these students will cherish these experiences as they get older and for the rest of their lives. I was fortunate that my theater professor in college brought us to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and to see theater at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland when I was a freshman and sophomore. Those experiences shaped who I am today as well as my values and worldview.”

Appel’s imaginative and prescient, and the mission of Naked Shakes, is certainly one of bare-bones theatricality that facilities the transformation of the actor and the area. Each play is offered clearly and immediately so the viewers inhabits the imaginative world of the play by way of Shakespeare’s language.

The barren bodily theater area is essential to the Naked Shakes idea; it takes on the id of no matter locale or explicit poetic language is described, and but continues to remind the viewers they’re in a theater. 

“When Prospero in ‘The Tempest’ describes ‘the great Globe itself,’ he is not only referring to the entire Earth, but also the ‘Globe’ Theater — Shakespeare’s theater,” mentioned Appel. “That duality is what Naked Shakes is all about.”

As for “The Death of Kings,” its themes “continue to be relevant, especially in our current political climate and election season,” Appel mentioned.

“In developing ‘The Death of Kings,’ I was not interested in creating museum piece Shakespeare, or even paying homage to British history. I am more interested in creating an allegory for our time,” he mentioned.

“Many people are unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s history plays and even a little intimidated by them, not realizing that they contain some of the greatest and most profound material he ever wrote,” Appel mentioned.

“On a personal note, we also live in a golden age of episodic entertainment, and I am influenced as much by ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘The Wire’ as I am by Shakespearean history,” he mentioned.