Patrick Page to Star in Rajiv Joseph's Archduke, about the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Patrick Page will lead the cast of the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Archduke, which is set to begin previews at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre on October 23 ahead of an official opening night November 12. Performances are scheduled through December 21.

This darkly comic tale follows a group of young revolutionaries, including Gavrilo Princip, best remembered as the man who assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an event that precipitated World War I. Press material claims the play, “feels unexpectedly urgent and strikingly relevant in an era of disillusioned young men searching for purpose.”

Joseph is the playwright behind last season’s Dakar 2000 and 2023’s King James, both plays exhibiting an increasingly rare ability (for an off-Broadway playwright) to tell the stories of men with nuance and empathy.

Page is one of America’s premier stage villains. He was nominated for a Tony for originating the role of Hades in Hadestown, and famously played The Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Television audiences will know him for his portrayal of train daddy’s treacherous associate, Richard Clay, on the HBO series The Gilded Age.

The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Darko Tresnjak. Born in Yugoslavia, Tresnjak has helmed some of the most visually arresting productions on and off-Broadway in recent years, including Anastasia, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, and Russian Troll Farm.