Twenty Years of Naked Shakes

Two decades ago, UCSB professor Irwin Appel began a project he called Naked Shakes — minimalistic Shakespearian theater focused on language and acting rather than a dependence on extensive sets, costumes, and design elements. The inaugural performance was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the company hit its stride within this pared-down aesthetic in their second production, The Tempest, 19 years ago. This year, Appel brings The Tempest back to the stage, with performances lagoon-side at UCSB and in the Godric Grove amphitheater in Elings Park.

One of Shakespeare’s final plays, The Tempest is a story of magic and manifestation. Ringmaster Prospero, erstwhile Duke of Milan, is living quietly on a remote island with his daughter, Miranda. When Antonio, the brother who usurped Prospero’s throne, sails near the island with a band of kinsmen, Prospero uses his talent for sorcery to raise a maelstrom. The ship cannot withstand the brutal storm, and Antonio and his men are marooned on the island — setting the stage for Prospero’s revenge.

“The Tempest was where the Naked Shakes idea came from,” says Appel. “Prospero says, ‘These our actors … were all spirits, and are melted into air’ and ‘the great globe itself … shall dissolve.’ The Globe. Shakespeare could have said ‘the great world’ or ‘the great earth,’ but he picked the name of his theater. And what happened? The Globe did ‘dissolve.’” Appel is referring to the London theater where Shakespeare produced work, which famously burned in a blaze caused by a stage cannon. Naked Shakes was born from the idea of theater after the globe dissolves — the concept, explains Appel, that “we don’t have a single piece of wood or a button from a costume or anything like that.” 

Naked Shakes is unique to UCSB’s performance courses in that much of the cast has little experience with theater. First created as a class, Naked Shakes is now part of UCSB’s Summer Start program, a “pre-semester” for incoming freshmen. The process, says Appel, is profound. “You get this huge group of young people together. Some of them have never done a play. And I’m thinking, your first cultural experience in college is going to be the way we do theater. I love that.” Appel directs the productions alongside Christina McCarthy, the choreographer he calls the unsung genius of Naked Shakes, one who understands the bridge between movement, language, and theater.

Many of the Naked Shakes students don’t go on to study theater, but the challenges of performance (and the added language barrier of translating Shakespeare) creates the potential for a distinctive learning experience. While the class and the accompanying performance is designed to build actors, it’s also, says Appel, designed to build human beings. “One of the most important things is that it teaches empathy. You have to step into the shoes of somebody else…. I’m giving you this opportunity to feel what they feel and tell their story and share it. I take that very seriously.”

See The Tempest at UCSB September 4-6 at 5 p.m. on the Commencement Green in front of the lagoon, free of charge, with no tickets necessary, or enjoy the performance at Elings Park September 11, 12, and 14. Seebit.ly/41LjbTU.