“Archduke,” where history is rewritten and played as farce

12/09/2025

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In this theatrical still, a white-bearded man in a dark, buttoned military uniform stands behind a long banquet table, pointing a baton toward a massive antique map of central Europe that serves as the backdrop. The table in front of him is lavishly set with wine glasses, lit candles, and platters of food, including two whole roasted pig heads and a garnished fish. Three men sit with their backs to the audience, gazing up at the map as the official speaks. The scene is lit with a warm, dramatic glow, highlighting the geographical details of the map and the formal intensity of the meeting. — (back row) Patrick Page (Dragutin “Apis” Dimitrijevic) (front row; l to r) Jason Sanchez (Nedeljko), Adrien Rolet (Trifko), Jake Berne (Gavrilo) (Photo by Joan Marcus)

This image captures a theatrical scene featuring three young men in early 20th-century attire. The man in the center wears a grey newsboy cap and a matching oversized coat, with his right arm held in a large, light-grey fabric sling. To his left, another man in a black bowler hat and suit leans in closely to speak to him, wearing black leather gloves. On the right, a third man with a mustache, dressed in a grey tweed jacket and a bowtie, looks on with a concerned expression. The background is simple, with a dark upper half and a bright blue illuminated wall or screen behind them, suggesting a stage setting. — (l to r) Jason Sanchez (Nedeljko), Jake Berne (Gavrilo), and Adrien Rolet (Trifko) (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Pulitzer Prize-winner Rajiv Joseph’s latest play, Archduke, is a slow-building comedy centered around the world’s luckiest assassin, Gavrilo Princip, the man who started World War I. Directed by Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), the play starts off purporting to deal with why certain young men are attracted to violent political action groups, but then turns, well, just plain silly, rewriting and playing havoc with historical facts. At the end of which, you’re amazed and applauding and wondering as you’re leaving the theatre just what the hell you saw!

We are introduced to Gavrilo (Jake Berne), a Belgrade teenager who is following up on an ad for some sort of political action group involving Bosnian Serbs. Waiting to be contacted in the back of a stable, he meets Nedeljko (Jason Sanchez), another teen there for the same reason. Suspicious of each other, the two talk smack and roll around on the floor a little until their contact, Trifko (Adrien Rolet) arrives and breaks them up. Classic comedy, right?

Trifko takes them to meet a man he calls “The Captain,” a Serbian named Dragutin Dimitrijevic (Patrick Page). Dimitrijevic and his housekeeper Sladjana (Kristine Nielsen) invite Trifko and the boys to a hearty dinner. Dimitrijevic, a pompous blowhard, fills their heads with the glories of battle and the necessity of political murder to achieve political gains, while Sladjana wheels out cart after cart of entrees and desserts, constantly interrupting Dimitrijevic’s overblown oratory.

Gavrilo and Nedeljko agree to join in an attempt to assassinate the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Dimitrijevic, taking a liking to Gavrilo, grooms him to lead the group while telling him wild stories of how he, by himself, murdered the Serbian King Alexander and his “witch” wife Queen Draga, which left him with three bullets still lodged in his body.

Archduke does have some of the historical facts correct. Three of the six men in the assassination plot were Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Čabrinović, and Trifko Grabež, all Bosnian Serbs. Dragutin Dimitrijević was the chief of the military intelligence section of the Serbian general staff, holding a rank of colonel. He led an assassination team against the Serbian king and queen, was shot during the mission, and was the Serbian point man for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

In this theatrical still, a silver-haired man in a dark grey military uniform stands authoritatively behind a long banquet table covered in a fringed red cloth. He uses a small baton to point at an enormous, antique-style map of Central Europe that serves as the stage backdrop. The table is crowded with platters of food, including two whole roasted pig heads and a garnished fish, alongside wine glasses and lit candles. Three young men sit with their backs to the audience, looking up at the official as he indicates a position on the map near Vienna. The lighting is dramatic, casting a warm, formal glow over the map and the tense strategic briefing in progress. — (l to r) Patrick Page (Dragutin “Apis” Dimitrijevic), Jason Sanchez (Nedeljko), Adrien Rolet (Trifko),
Jake Berne (Gavrilo), Kristine Nielsen (Sladjana) (Photo by Joan Marcus)

But this is a fantasia on the use of violence to attain political goals, with an unexpected ending. And the cast treat it like a comedy of errors, with outsized performances and a surprisingly sweet assassin. The cast, headed by stage veterans Patrick Page and the sublimely vulgar Kristine Nielsen (who double as the Archduke and his Duchess), move the story along at a brisk pace under Tresnjak’s direction. And the final scene, including a tense interaction between Gavrilo and the Archduke and Duchess, is both historically jarring and naively beautiful.

In these theatrical photos, three men dressed in early 20th-century attire stand on a stage. The central figure wears a dark newsboy cap and an oversized grey coat, with his right arm held in a large, light-grey fabric sling. He is flanked by two men in suits and bowler hats, one of whom holds a brown leather suitcase while wearing black leather gloves. The background features a dark void punctuated by two bright blue glowing windows and green tufted velvet seating. The actors' expressions range from concerned to awe-struck as they gaze upward, capturing a tense moment in the production. — (l to r) Adrien Rolet (Trifko), Jason Sanchez (Nedeljko), Jake Berne (Gavrilo) (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Archduke may take its basic story from history, but this is not a historical play. Far from it; it is world history as done by the Three Stooges with Sig Rumann and Patsy Kelly. If this tickles your imaginative fancy, then I heartily recommend a jaunt to old Austria- Hungary to see the people and plots swirling around the Archduke!

Archduke is presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 423 West 46th St., in New York, through Dec. 21, 2025. For more information or to order tickets, go to roundabouttheatre.org.