This Fall theater season presented two productions dealing with Archduke Ferdinand. At the end of Ragtime, he is assassinated, setting off the war to end all wars. More recently, I saw Archduke at the Roundabout Theatre Company, written by Rajiv Joseph, which leads up to that assassination.

The beginning of the work, with hints of Samuel Beckett, features two young men meeting in a basement wine cellar, waiting for a man. Neither one knows the other nor why the Doctor has sent them. Neither do they know who they are waiting for (No, it’s not Godot.) Nedeljko (Jason Sanchez) is hoping the man he meets will give him a job so he can get a sandwich; he is hungry. Meanwhile Gavrilo (Jake Berne,) knowing he is dying of tuberculosis, is hoping to find answers so he can leave his mark on the world.

Both are young, only 19 and both are considered ‘lungers’, which is why the Doctor has selected them for the Captain’s army. Captain (portrayed by the incomparable Patrick Page) feels that Archduke Ferdinand and his wife are bad for the country, an opinion he shares with the boys.

Captain’s plan is that they kill the Archduke and Duchess to free Serbia and to unite the Serbian countries. Then he proposes that they become martyrs by ingesting cyanide after the assassination; they are dying anyway. Their lives will have had value, they’d be remembered, and there will be statues erected to them.

The two young men, along with Trifko (Adrien Rolet), an older soldier he has already recruited, easily fall under Captain’s persuasive powers.

Once at his home, Captain begins the work of brainwashing them. These young impressionable men, already dying young, have no hope for the future. Captain manipulates them with his magnetism, regaling them with his heroic tales but most persuasive of all, he feeds them. Page’s hypnotic mellifluous tones win them (and the audience ) over.

Kristine Nielsen, one of the most talented actresses on the stage, plays Sladjana, his cook, who alternately nurtures, feeds and scares the boys. While she appears to agree with Captain, later she sends out a different message. Nielsen milks her part for all its worth, with every entrance and exit, as she brings in a trolley with food and sweets and later Captain's special box. The box contains Black Gloves and the Captain’s army goes down in history known as the Black Hands,

Gavrilo does go down in history, having assassinated Ferdinand, but we only know his name. But Joseph has created personalities for the killers and given them motivation. You can’t help but feel compassion for the three. Berne as Gavilo is small, sensitive and haunted by the skeleton of “Lady Bones” he saw in the Doctor’ s office. He even names her and claims to hear her voice in his head. Berne wins our sympathy and we feel for this young man who has so little in his life.

Nedejko, raised by nuns, is easily angered and quick to pick a fight. He seems kind of slow and someone who would be a follower. Trifko is also a ‘lunger’ and is already totally loyal to The Captain and quick to chastise the other two if they aren’t being obedient. He tells them that earlier he threw a bomb at a car upon the Captain’s instructions. His character is the least developed. It is easy to see how with kindness, attention and food, the three would be easy to manipulate. Besides, they have nothing else.

The young actors are all making their Off-Broadway debuts with Roundabout Theatre Company in this play. However, they seem callow and inexperienced compared to the accomplished Page and Nielsen

Director Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder) explained that the first scene of the play is actually set in the town where he grew up. Tresnjak brings a personal touch and realism to the play with popular folk music of the time in the background. The opening scenes have wine kegs which bear the name of an actual wine that he recalled from his childhood.

History might see the young men as killers but we see them as sad unfortunate youth. In a talkback afterwards, Joseph, a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, drew a comparison to the political environment today and to the young people who are searching for meaning. It’s hard to separate these three disenfranchised young men from the angry young white men who thought they were being patriotic by attacking the Capitol on January 6.

Joseph’s work is thought-provoking with a bit of humor, much of it from Nielsen. One recurring motif is in the boys’ wish for a sandwich. Captain wants to shape history while the young men just want to eat. While the theme of getting the sandwich is funny, it does symbolize their basic need for food and what truly motivates people. If only they had enough food, then the war might not have occurred.