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The houses of Westeros are all set to bring their alliances and feuds to the stage this summer as the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) announced the premiere of Game of Thrones: The Mad King. The play is set to have its global premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Set 10 years before the events of the hit television series, the play’s synopsis reads, “A long winter thaws in Harrenhal, and spring is promised. At a lavish banquet on the eve of a jousting tournament, lovers meet and revellers speculate about who will contend. But in the shadows, amid growing unease at the blood-thirsty actions of the realm’s merciless Mad King, dissenters from his inner circle anxiously advance a treasonous plot. Far away, the drums of battle sound.”

Director Dominic Cooke, revealed to Deadline that there would be a star-crossed lovers element to the play, with Lyanna Stark — whose hand has been promised to Robert Baratheon — and Rhaegar Targaryen falling for each other. He said there was a “bit of a Romeo and Juliet-type story with those two”.

Cooke mused that Lyanna’s character was similar in some aspects to Joan of Arc in Henry VI or Rosalind in As You Like It. Her fan-favourite brother, Ned Stark, will also be at the tournament as one of the major characters.

George RR Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books which inspired Game of Thrones, said he had never expected the books to be much more than what he wrote. He explained they were a place for him to let his imagination loose and he was surprised when his work was adapted into a television series.

For the upcoming play, Martin said he hadn’t seen it coming either, but welcomed it “with great enthusiasm and excitement”. “Theatre offers something unique. A place for mine and the audience’s imagination to meet and hopefully create something magical,” he said.

The author also explained his choice of theatre group to bring Game of Thrones to the stage. “For me, the RSC was the obvious choice when thinking about putting a Game of Thrones story on the stage. Shakespeare is the greatest name in English literature, and his plays have been a constant source of inspiration to me and my writing. Not only that, he faced similar challenges in how to put a battle on stage, so we are in good company.”

Talking about The Mad King’s playwright, Duncan Macmillan, he said, “Duncan’s masterful script honours the world completely, and I am so excited for both fans of the series, and perhaps people who have never picked up one of my books, to experience this new story in a theatre.”

The RSC’s co-creative directors said the themes of Martin’s work were similar to Shakespeare’s own in how it explores “the true nature of authority through the lens of young people grappling with inherited identities”.

The play has been co-produced by HBO, which makes sense when you consider Game of Thrones repeatedly broke the network’s records for viewership numbers. The legions of fans it has amassed are sure to flock to the theatre for its prequel too.