Archduke Review: Rajiv Joseph's Farcical Take on the Origins of WWI

A New Perspective on History

Rajiv Joseph's 2025 play 'Archduke', currently running at the Royal Court in London, takes a farcical look at the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The playwright, known for oblique historical perspectives in works like 'Guards at the Taj' and 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo', here speculates on the motivations behind the event that triggered World War I.

The Story

The protagonist is Gavrilo Princip (Stanley Morgan), an unemployed consumptive ('lunger') who receives a job offer from the Slav nationalist Apis (Marc Wootton). Apis recruits Princip and two other starving, sick youths—Trifco (Abraham Popoola) and Nedeljko (Chris Walley)—by ranting about historical wrongs and feeding them sandwiches prepared by his devout housekeeper Sladjana (Janice Connolly). Hunger becomes a central metaphor, intertwined with religious fervour as Princip acts in the name of 'Mother Mary'.

Theatrical Elements

Director Lyndsey Turner balances historical comedy with high seriousness, a skill she previously demonstrated in '1536'. Designer Es Devlin interprets the set direction 'An abandoned warehouse' as a railway tunnel vault, alluding to historian AJP Taylor's theory that rigid train timetables made troop movements irreversible. The final scene sees the conspirators boarding a train to Sarajevo—though on press night, the carriage door malfunctioned.

Cast and Performance

The cast adeptly navigates the tragicomic tone. A haunting final scene imagines what if Princip had avoided his mission; he would not be buried in Sarajevo's Heroes Chapel, and a Glaswegian rock band would not be named Franz Ferdinand. Yet the play suggests the first global conflict might still have occurred, just with slightly different dates.

Conclusion

While not suitable for history exams, Joseph's thesis graduates theatrically with high honours, offering a thought-provoking blend of farce and gravity.