Archduke (and Sandwiches)

(Photo credit to Johanna Austin.)

Have you ever gone into a show expecting one thing and then getting something completely different?  That’s what happened to me with Archduke.  I went in expecting drama, expecting something truly dark, but was delighted to see a show that was that and more.  With beautiful dark humor interlaced through everything, characters with depth and layers, and a story that I was wholly invested in, I came away from this show having seen something that I wasn’t expecting and felt truly elevated after.  Archduke hit at some great points…along with a script that was poetic in its own way, this show definitely carried.

I did go in with limited knowledge about the show…the basic reading of the summary and everything.  But none of that could prepare me for what I was about to see.  It does have a historical basis- the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that kicked off World War 1.  But this was an interestingly fictionalized account.  Which was amazing, because we got some really interesting characters out of it.  The summary also asks an interesting question…“What happens when a person feels like they have nothing left to lose?”  Well, I certainly learned that while watching Archduke.

That was one of the most interesting parts to me, honestly.  We’re looking at three young men who are dying of TB.  They’re not well off, never had been, and they know they’re dying.  They’re promised glory and a legacy, neither of which they have any of.  But none of these three caved as easily as one would expect in that situation.  I’m not sure I could exactly relate to these boys, but I can understand that they still want to do things with integrity, and do them right.  So what does happen when they feel like they have nothing left to lose?  Archduke is what happens.

On a very basic level, you’d think this would be easy enough.  But human nature goes far beyond that.  The way these three boys talk about things like sandwiches show the need they have for the basic things.  They haven’t been dealt the best lot in life, so it makes sense.  They want purpose, they want to belong.  All things that we as humans crave in general.  They’re all different, something we see when it comes to talk of things like suicide and how they were raised.  They have nothing.  They want more.  But at what cost?  And at what cost to their humanity?

There’s so much beautiful duality in Archduke.  There are the ideas of right versus wrong, good versus evil.  And we really see both sides of that.  Nothing is clear, which I thought was so well written.  Obviously we see these dying boys on one side, but there’s also the Captain pushing them along.  They can’t truly understand each other, especially the Captain.  Things that are obvious to him are definitely not obvious to the boys.  There’s two sides to everything.  It’s up to us to decide what we think is right or wrong.

As true to this time period, there is a lot of the masculine and the feminine.  Our one female character, Sladjana, is a hardened eastern European woman.  She’s the cook.  She’s knee deep in superstition and knowledge of things like herbs.  But her impression is intense and caring.  Apis, the Captain, is extremely masculine, but he has been ridiculed for being “felled” by a woman, as he had been shot by a woman.  And there are gender stereotypes in general.  Gavrilo is small and scrappy, and is teased for this.  He’s also the smartest.  In the end, the Captain goes to him to lead.

In these lives being lived, there’s so much ignorance and distrust.  It’s a theme that runs through the whole show.  I think that’s what makes it so easy for Apis to play these young boys.  He builds off of their insecurities, wants, and needs.  That’s how he knows he’s going to get his mission accomplished.  When he plants those seeds in their heads, along with things like using Archduke Ferdinand as a scapegoat, he knows they’re going to do what he wants them to do.  At least, he thinks he knows.  That doesn’t mean he should be so sure.

After the show, I did some serious Googling.  I thought that I had read something about a sandwich and Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination at some point in my life.  And I was half right.  There is a myth that the archduke’s assassin, a young boy named Gavrilo (see, I told you Archduke had some history to it), was eating a sandwich when he saw Archduke Ferdinand drive by and was able to assassinate him then.  This is a myth.  But the importance of sandwiches in Archduke made for a funny historical thread.

From the start, Archduke pulled me in.  It was clever and fun and interesting to watch.  I thought the whole show was executed flawlessly with a minimal set, costumes, and props.  They did have some beautiful presentations through usages of projectors and super balanced blocking.  I loved all the dark humor, and I fell in love with the characters.  As I said at the start, I was definitely expecting something different, but I loved every second of what I ended up getting.