I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1413 "Freedom—"

In the main hall of the East Wing of the Tuileries Palace, the Venetian Gozzi Theatre Company is performing the classic play "Turandot".

This play is the masterpiece of the famous playwright Carlo Gozzi. Although it has been performed in Europe for more than 20 years, it still enjoys great popularity.

Meanwhile, Joseph was with his family in the South Hall, watching the new play "Puss in Boots" by the young Prussian playwright Johann Ludwig Tick.

Last month, when he saw the title of the play on the festival's application form, he felt as if he had been transported back to a 21st-century cinema.

However, he quickly confirmed that it was indeed a script written by the Prussians just last year, and the animated film in later generations must have been adapted from the character settings of that script.

Therefore, he decisively selected this play as one of the plays to be performed on the first day of the drama festival.

According to the festival's rules, two plays will be performed simultaneously each day. The jury will then give a score, and the audience will also give a score; the average of the two scores will be the play's final score.

This new audience-participatory scoring model has further ignited people's enthusiasm—who wouldn't want to experience being a judge for themselves, especially one who can influence the results of a world-class theater festival?

People from many countries even traveled thousands of miles to Paris to buy tickets and watch their own films in hopes of winning awards.

In the VIP section on the second floor of the South Hall, Queen Mary and Alexandra kept their eyes glued to the actors on stage, occasionally breaking into happy smiles.

Having watched so many dull aristocratic dramas and historical dramas on a regular basis, they were immediately captivated by this lighthearted and humorous "fairy tale."

Even Joseph thought the screenwriter had a truly rich imagination.

Accompanied by lively music, the play quickly reached its first climax—

A poor boy named Gottlieb wanted to marry a beautiful princess, but he didn't even have a decent dress to wear to the palace. So, his magical tomcat, Hencher, came up with an idea: he hid in the river beside the king's travel route.

When the king's carriage arrived, Gottlieb took off his clothes and pretended to go bathing in the river. Hencher then stopped the king's carriage, claiming that its master, "Count Calaba," had been attacked by bandits while bathing in the river, and all his clothes and treasures had been stolen.

The king, feeling sorry for the count's plight, sent a servant to deliver a magnificent set of clothes to him.

At this point in the performance, the audience below the stage erupted in excited shouts:

"That cat is a fraud!"

"Your Majesty, please do not believe it!"

However, some people murmured enviously, "God, please give me a cat like that..."

Joseph, sitting on the second floor, watched this scene and couldn't help but smile. It seemed that he had made the right decision in organizing this theater festival.

People in this era lead a very monotonous spiritual and cultural life, so it's easy for them to become immersed in such interesting storylines and be subtly influenced.

In the end, Hencher devised a plan to help Gottlieb defeat the ogre, who finally used the ogre's wealth to marry the princess. Hencher also became a nobleman among cats, and the play ended amidst laughter.

Queen Mary led the audience in rising to their feet and applauding the actors as they took their final bows. The audience responded with enthusiastic applause and cheers that lasted for a long time.

More than ten minutes later, Alexandra, arm in arm with Joseph, followed the King and Queen out of the Tuileries Palace, still excitedly recounting the events that had just transpired.

Once inside the carriage, the Crown Princess looked back at the theater, still savoring the experience:

"This is so much fun, honey. I want to come see the late-night show again tonight." All the plays in the festival are performed in the afternoon, and there is another one starting at 9 pm, running until the early hours of the morning. The ticket prices are also slightly lower.

“Why not?” Joseph winked at her. “Just don’t let Mother know.”

"Really?" Alexandra happily wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "You're so good to me!"

She would never have dared to think of doing something that violated court rules when she lived in the Winter Palace.

Joseph put his arm around her waist and smiled.
"If you like it, we'll buy the copyright to this show. Then, I'll help you write the sequel, um, maybe two more seasons."

The reason he made two sequels was because he had seen both of the Puss in Boots movies.

"God, this is amazing!" Alexandra exclaimed excitedly, kissing him several times on the cheek. "I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight!"

The next morning.

Joseph yawned as he ate his breakfast. Last night, the Crown Princess had indeed been too excited, and he hadn't slept well as a result.

Emman placed a stack of ironed newspapers on the table.

Joseph casually picked up the Paris Handelsblatt and saw that the front page was full of news about the theater festival, and the ratings for yesterday's two plays were also out.

With a maximum score of 20, "Puss in Boots" received a high score of 16, surpassing "Turandot" with 15.

It's worth noting that this result was achieved despite the fact that the German actors' French accents were too heavy, resulting in many points being deducted for their "dialogue" performance, while the Italian troupe's French was all very fluent.

Joseph nodded in satisfaction; choosing this play had indeed been a great start. This would pave the way for the "main event" to come—

The final performances on the last day of this theater festival were The Royal Theatre Company's "The Count of Monte Cristo" and The Florentine Theatre Company's "Braveheart".

That's right, it's the story from later generations that tells of William Wallace leading the Scots to a crushing defeat of the English army, and how the English, through trickery, barely managed to turn the tide.

Of course, the script was written by Joseph himself and given to the highly skilled Florentine theater company to perform.

He had privately seen the performance of the 1.9-meter-tall Florentine actor last week, and his shout of "Freedom—" was powerful and heart-wrenching, no less so than Mel Gibson's performance.

Judging from how engrossed the audience was in the story yesterday, it's likely that after "Braveheart" is shown, the British royal family will be in deep trouble, even if they jumped into the Thames.

If it could stir up an anti-British wave in Scotland, that would be an unexpected bonus.

Just as Joseph finished his breakfast, Emmanuel led Berthier in quickly.

The Chief of the General Staff stepped forward, saluted, and said with a beaming smile:
"Your Highness, we received news this morning that the British troops had completely withdrawn from Porto at noon the day before yesterday."

"Currently, there are fewer than a thousand enemy troops defending the port, and the Marquis of Talavera has personally led two infantry regiments to surround it."

Yes, after the Portuguese nobles abandoned Porto, the Marquess of Wellesley, lacking support, finally chose to retreat due to heavy British casualties.

(End of this chapter)