The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 might not seem like the most appropriate subject for a comedy, but just in time for WesFest, Second Stage is presenting “Shoot the Duke,” an original play written and directed by Michael Steves ’13. Described as a “hyper-sexed, ultra-violent, sweet-hearted action comedy,” the show is running this Thursday through Friday at 8:00 pm in the Nicolson Lounge. The Argus was able to sit down with Steves for a few words about his new play.
The Argus: Ok, so first of all, tell us a little about what the show’s about.
Michael Steves: So, the show is about Gavrilo Princip, who was the guy who assassinated Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, and that assassination started World War I. It’s a play where I think history buffs would already know the history, because it’s kind of a funny story of history. Gavrilo Princip basically tried to assassinate Ferdinand in the morning of that day in Sarajevo. He and his conspirators failed, like, miserably—one of them jumped into a river to kill himself and it was like five inches deep, and he got dragged out, so it’s like, totally embarrassing; so they fail miserably. Gavrilo Princip escaped and went to a bar to drown his sorrows and get a drink, and while he was there Franz Ferdinand’s car drove past him like a few hours later, and he walked outside and killed him, and basically started World War I because of this crazy coincidence. So the play takes place in that bar. It takes place in real time, so it’s over the course of like an hour and a half, in the bar. And the back-story is true and the basic situation is true, but this is about as accurate as Monty Python or “Year One.” The characters talk like modern-day people, they’re engaging in barroom brawls and swordfights and they’re having shootouts and Mexican standoffs, and it’s really ridiculous.
A: So, is this something you knew about and did research on? Did research go into this?
MS: Wikipedia went into this. I heard the story in my International Politics class and knew I wanted to write a play with low set needs because I’d never done a Second Stage show before, so I wanted to do something in a bar. And I heard that story, so I figured it could be funny. And basically all the research was done through Wikipedia, in like a day, and I wrote it over winter break.
A: I was going to ask you how long it took you to write it, but, not too long! That’s cool. What has the process of actually doing the play been like?
MS: It’s been really great; the actors are all very funny, we have a really great cast, a lot of very funny people…so on paper it was already a crazy action comedy, and now it’s just even crazier, like cane swords have been added and there are more fistfights…it’s just become even crazier than it was on paper. That’s the only thing that’s changed.
A: I hear if you’re afraid of stage blood you’re not supposed to come.
MS: If you’re afraid of—there’s only one primary instance of stage blood, but there’s a lot of it.
A: So you mentioned “Monty Python,” but are there any other books, movies that you’re drawing on for the feel of the show?
MS: Well, I’m a big film buff…I’m a big fan of Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Martin McDonagh, the guy who did “The Pillowman,” “In Bruges”…you know, the Coen brothers.
A: So like action comedy, or violent comedy.
MS: Violent comedy, and also I’m a big fan of Judd Apatow, internet sketch comedy, so those are the primary influences, I guess.
A: What have you done before, in terms of theater?
MS: I did a show my senior year; It was called “Dirty Sexy Short Plays,” and it was basically a bunch of interconnected short plays about kind of ridiculous subjects, similar to this—like one of them was about a group of sperms trying to decide who’s going to inseminate the egg, another one was about two henchmen that work for a kind of James Bond villain who abandon their jobs to live life for a day, one of the was about a love story between two people in an old folks’ home. So, equally ridiculous.
A: What do you hope to impart to prefrosh with this show, since it will be WesFest weekend?
MS: Well, one thing that I’ve found in theater is that there aren’t very many shows that can have the term “badass” applied to them. This is supposed to be a badass play—it’s really crazy, and ridiculous. I mean, there’s a love story, and other things like that, but it really is supposed to be a high-energy show; it should leave you with your heart pumping at the end. It’s supposed to be just a really kinetic, crazy play. So I want to show prefrosh that you can do this at Wesleyan.