Archduke by Rajiv Joseph is a new play that reimagines what could have taken place in 1914 before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 

Trifco (Abraham Popoola) and Nedeljko (Chris Walley) meet unexpectedly in an abandoned warehouse looking for the sane person who has offered them a job. Both of them have limited time left to live and are classed as “lungers.” After contracting consumption and becoming ill.

Marc Wootton takes on the role of Dragutin “Aips” Dimitrijevic, who recruited three young starving men with murder in mind. He launches into a historical rant, pointing out all th historical wrongs and “rile” them up, ready to assassinate the Archduke. He also introduces the lads to his third recruit Gavrilo (Stanley Morgan), whose the “braun” of the Trio of hungry recruits and will do whatever he is asked to.

Sladjana (Janice Connolly) works alongside the Captain and is renowned for cooking the most incredible food that the young lads devour hungrily as Dimitrijevic watches on knowing they will work for food without too many questions.

However,  as the plot develops, the audience discovers that Sladjana has a dark and twisted side. Her foraging and improvisation for ingredients leave a nasty taste in your mouth.

The storyline offers plenty of dark humour. Wootton‘s delivery never fails to raise laughter from the auditorium.

Stage designer Es Devlin captures the sparce open space of the dark and eerie warehouse in the first scene, then into used spaces for the young lads induction, adding church style pews to convert it into a chapel space. The crown in the set has to be the luxurious train carriage in the second act. The richness of colours and attention to detail are designed to offer a first-class final journey for his recruits.

Director Lyndsey Turner uses the strengths of these incredible actors to add dark humour and twists to the most heinous of key historical crimes that led to the start of World War I. Although I believe it took more than a sandwich for Gavrilo to commit murder.

https://royalcourttheatre.com/events/archduke/

Photo credit Helen Murray.

Four Stars.

Cast

Chris Walley

Abraham Popoola

Stanley Morgan

Janice Connolly

Marc Wootton.