City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 405: Theatre

Rosen

“How is it?” I asked nervously as a beautiful woman in a red dress came toward me.

She is Audrid, my assistant.

“Seats are filling rapidly,” she replied.

“Good,” I said and looked at the chaos in the backstage. Controlled chaos.

I have seen, how quickly it could turn into uncontrolled and mess things up.

Actors are getting ready, stagehands moving the stuff, production manager throwing the orders. It is all happening in a small space.

Thank god, there are not many plants in here. A few are in places where they couldn’t be harmed.

I would have hated it, if something had happened to the precious plants.

I looked around and still couldn’t believe, it was all true. A few months ago, I was living in a small room, working in a small town as a scribe.

Nobody wants to hire the man, who cursed the imperial prince publicly and has imperial skill hanging on them.

One had half a decade ago. I was one most recognized names in the theater in the empire, but one fateful night changed it all.

I pushed the thoughts and looked at the performers getting ready for the play. That will start in half an hour.

They had a smile, nervousness, and others’ emotions on their faces. Some are reading their lines, while some playing with the mist.

They are enamored by it, and I can’t blame them. I myself am enamored.

It has been my dream since childhood to perform at Akanar Theater. It is the dream that every theater person.

It is one of the nine spirits, after all.

I was so confident that one day. I would reach high enough, that a call from that theater would come for me until all changed.

I had never thought, I would ever work in theater again. Much less in theater in the legacy.

It is all because of Uncle Vanis. He sent me to Silver, once again saving me.

I am scared. It would grand understatement to say I am not. I felt like I had lost my charm, and nobody would like my play.

I wanted to use one of the old plays, but Mr. Silver had asked me to use a new one.

I shouldn’t have told him about them.

I have new plays. I have written several in the past one and a half decades. There was too much spare time after I gave up the bottle.

We have been rehearsing for one and half months, every day from morning to night.

I had made sure every actor could recite their lines, even their dreams.

Still, I am scared. If it didn’t work, I wouldn’t be able to work. People will know, I am not the Rosen, I used to be.

I looked at them once again, before walking toward the small window, that gives the look of seats.

Till now, I didn’t dare to look, but I have to.

So, I did and what I saw, made me take a breath of relief. Audrid had said, but I didn’t dare to believe her, but now, after seeing my own eyes, I could.

The theater occupies three floors and is the most beautiful one.

It was designed by the foremost theatre designer of the empire.

It had a classic imperial theater aesthetic; I am glad, Lord Silver had chosen this one over the softer style of merchant state.

I hate the empire for what it did to me, but I also loved it.

Like all the floors of the tower, it had plants, which I didn’t think would suit a theater, but they enhanced the beauty of it further.

They are special plants; I am not saying they are special plants because they are magical plants, or because they consume the emotion essence.

I am saying this because these plants release fragrances that are affected by emotions.

They evoke them.

Though not artificially. The fragrances wouldn’t affect the people if they didn’t already feel those emotions.

If they were the plants that artificially evoked the emotions.

I would have tried my everything to ask Lord Silver to remove them.

No actor, or playwright worth their salt would use such things. Those that believe in their art, would shun those things.

The theater is spacious with comfortable seats. It had a capacity of one thousand and twenty with two floors of balconies.

If Lord Silver wanted it; he could have easily added another two hundred seats and another balcony, but he didn’t.

I am glad, he didn’t.

Unlike most of the theater owners, Lord Silver’s purpose in building the theater is purest. It is not praise, but priorities.

For most theater owners, they want to earn money, but Lord Silver does not need money. He said he could give them all free, and it wouldn’t matter to him much.

What he wants is emotions.

He wants the play, that will evoke the maximum emotions, which align with our creed.

Over 90% of the seats have already been filled. The rest are coming in, guided by ushers.

I was watching them when I heard the steps and saw a blond man coming toward me.

“How are things?” I asked my old friend. The only person in the theater world who kept a contact with me came to meet me at jail and after.

When Silver offered the job; he was the only person, I had asked to join me, and he did.

We started at the theater the same day. We were barely ten. We didn’t like each other at all for several years and even fought.

A small smile couldn’t help but appear on my face, remembering those fond memories.

“Fucking worse! Not a single person, could do their job well,” Zalis replied, with his usual expletives.

This means everything going well.

“I am sure, you will handle them,” I said. “Of course, I will. I can make babies fly in the emperor's procession. These people are nothing,” he replied.

Zalis is a stage manager. The best one; it was such a regret, that incident affected him too and destroyed his future.

The best thing he could manage was the traveling plays.

“I am glad, you are here, old friend,” I said.

“Me too. If you hadn’t called me, I would have been applying balm to my bum to relieve myself from the damage the carriage did,”

He controlled his words, seeing Audrid beside me.

A moment later, a smile on his face vanished and his eyes turned serious.

“Don’t worry, Rosen. You had written a wonderful play and made them work their ass off. Now leave everything to me and be ready to receive a standing ovation.” He said and walked away.

I took one last look at the window before starting to look at the preparations.

When there were only ten minutes to play. I entered the private box; there were six people sitting there. Four teens, and two adults.

I looked at a teen with raven hair. It is my third time seeing her.

The first time was when she was born. The second time was two and a half months ago when I reached Inam.

Today is the third.

She is Alina Lindgren, Uncle Vanis’s great-granddaughter.

“Thank you for coming, Alina,” I said to the teen. “Grandfather wanted to come. He said he is very proud of you,” she said, and my eyes couldn’t help but water.

“I am glad,” I said.

“He sent this for you,” she said and gave me an envelope. I took it but didn’t open it.

I nodded at her and walked into my own box.

There are two people already there. Zalis’s wife, Ota, and his nearly twenty-year-old son, Zale, who is still looking at everything with enamored eyes.

“Nervous?” Ota asked, and I nodded.

“It is strange seeing you like this. It felt like just yesterday when your shows would open and there would never be worry or nervousness on your face,” she said, studying my face.

“Those were the different days. I am a different person now,” I said, and she smiled.

I was a different person back then. Had no fear for the world.

Maybe it is why, I did what I had done.

I am now, a completely different person than I had been sixteen years ago. Nervous, cautious, mature, the qualities, I used to hate in those days.

Soon, the last person came.

Now every seat in the theater is filled. Even those at balconies, it felt like, only our box has an empty seat.

A minute later, the lights begin to dim. I could see the anticipation in the eyes of people.

Finally, the curtain opened with a sonorous tone.

The live music. I always hated recorded music and never used it in my plays, despite the precision and control they offer.

The live music is dynamic and engaging and gives a greater emotional impact.

It is also expensive, and a mishap could occur, but budget here isn’t a problem and I did everything I could for no mishap to occur.

The curtain opened, and the actors came alive.

The lights moved, and spells filled the stage, but the focus was still on the actors.

Most of the actors are from the empire, but there are some from the merchant state too. A few we had hired from Greltheaven.

Though their numbers are twice in the understudies. Lord Silver had asked to focus a little extra on the local actors.

I had even hired a few orcs and elves. They will play their races, unlike in empire, when we needed to make a human play elf or orc.

I interviewed each one of them myself and chose only the best.

Minutes passed, and with every minute, I felt like my lost confidence returning.

I didn’t let myself get completely engrossed in it. Instead, looked at it critically, for any flaws that it might have, and it has none.

Or at least not big ones; it is going much better than I had imagined.

The mist and plants are magic; the way they are reacting to emotions is simply unbelievable. They are enhancing the entire experience.

I had seen it working when rehearsing, but not at this scale.

The rehearsals had less than a hundred people watching, but here, there are thousands of them. The numbers have created quite an effect.

I could see how the mist was reacting to emotions, like the notes of music, while the smells of the plants completed it, creating a surreal experience.

I wish Lord Silver had been here. He had watched it during rehearsal, but it was a completely different experience now.

Unfortunately, he is busy with opening, but he said, he will watch it this week.

Minutes passed and soon everything turned blurry, and a face appeared in front of me.

There is never a day when I don’t think about her and wish she had been on that stage.

She used to breathe life into the theater and bring out any emotions that scenes require. So, expertly, that one would forget anything but her.

I left acting, seeing hers and focused on writing.

Before I knew it, an hour and twenty minutes passed, and the play stopped for the intermission.

I cleared my thoughts and looked at the people. Many are getting up to stretch and break, while others ordering food and drink.

Soon, the break was over, and the play resumed.

The second half is intense, and it affects the mist and smells heavily. The way it moves around the actors, and reacts to sounds with their emotions, is simply beautiful.

What is even more amazing is that it didn’t take the focus away from the play, but helped in attracting all their focus to the play.

“How were you able to make it past master of revels? Even with your abilities, it is quite a feat,” said Ota, seeing the scene, that would have been cut anywhere in empire.

Even the merchant state, where they give little more artistic freedom, might not have been comfortable with this scene.

“I didn’t say anything,” I replied, and Ota turned to me with wide eyes.

The same, expressions, I had when I looked at the script returned from Lord Silver.

I had asked for an edit book. The list of edits I have to make. The reply I got was shocking.

They said there was none.

To be honest, I had edits ready. I had diluted many scenes. Made them acceptable.

Lord Silver accepted the script as a whole.

They never do. I had given the script to a master of revels and they came back with edits. Here, I got none and even asked Lord Silver personally, to be sure.

He even said, he liked the controversial part.

Seeing that, I made the changes to the script. Made it more daring and, once again, it came back without any edits.

There was only one suggestion. It was about historical accuracy, where I needed to change the name of the year.

“Come again?” she asked. “There were no edits,” I replied.

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, before focusing on the play.

The play continued and soon, less than ten minutes remained before its end, when I got out of the box and walked backstage.

I nodded at Zalis as the redemption arc played out.

Clap Clap Clap!

As it ended, there was a silence for a moment. I heard a sound for a second before the applause began.

Seeing that, a smile couldn’t help but appear on my face.

“You did it, Rosen.” Said Zalis, patting on my shoulder.

“It wouldn’t have been possible, without your support,” I replied to my friend.

Soon it was time for the curtain call.

“It was an amazing play. I hope I don’t get assassinated for it,” said Marten, the lead.

The man isn’t joking. The scene was pretty controversial. A few actors had refused it before Marten accepted it.

Some might take offense and assassinate him. Things like that, aren’t rare.

“I hope not. At least not before your understudy is fully ready,” I said, and the man laughed before we stopped at the stage with other actors and bowed.

Clap Clap Clap

The people stood up and begin applauding loudly.

My eyes begin to tear up. I didn’t want to cry, in front of all these people, but tears kept coming as the applause continued.

It continued for over three minutes, my longest ever, before it finally stopped.

‘I am back.’ I thought, before bowing again.

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