Due to the need to set up the cityscape on stage, the preparation work for "Roman Holiday" far exceeded that of "Yes! Prime Minister," so it will take a bit longer.
The so-called "troops and horses are not moving, but the food and grass go first."
Before the play was even staged, various posters covered the outer walls of the Royal Opera House.
All the posters had a prominent line—
Crafted personally by Lu, the author of "Yes! Prime Minister."
Although it was a publicity stunt, the effect of this sentence was remarkably significant. Citizens of London who loved theater eagerly awaited it,
and because it was a love theme, more female audiences were attracted.
For a while, "Roman Holiday" became the focus of discussion everywhere in the streets and alleys.
In comparison, the publication of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" didn't make as much of a splash, and even the Royal Publishing House couldn't boost its sales much,
such heavyweight popular science academic works indeed have a very limited audience.
Lu also began working on "The Roger Mystery,"
as he had promised Cooper before because of Wilde's matter to continue serializing new works in "The Scottish People's Gazette," he naturally had to fulfill it.
Time steadily moved forward like this,
finally, in mid-January, "Roman Holiday" was about to take the stage.
...
Royal Opera House,
First-class box.
Margaret carefully poured tea for the Queen, and distractedly glanced towards the stage.
The curtain was tightly drawn,
it would be some time before the performance began.
Later, the Princess leaned forward again, glanced over the railing to the next box, but due to the angle, she couldn't see Lu.
The Queen cleared her throat,
"Rita."
Margaret then realized her lapse in manners and quickly sat back in her seat.
She exuded a hint of resentment.
Because the publicity for "Roman Holiday" was so well done, coupled with the fact that the performance was at the Royal Opera House, all the members of the royal family currently in London were very curious and came in groups to watch with the Queen,
with so many people crowded into the box, Lu and Shaw couldn't naturally attend,
the two of them were in the next box.
The Queen chuckled and patted Margaret's shoulder,
"Why? Today, we're watching a romantic comedy, not the political satire like 'Yes! Prime Minister,' do we still need the playwright here to explain things live for you?"
Caught in her thoughts, Margaret couldn't help but feel embarrassed,
she waved her hands repeatedly,
"I didn't mean to."
Yeah, right!
Just as the Queen was about to tease a few more words, she suddenly noticed that the murmurs in the box had quieted down significantly.
Margaret whispered softly, "It's starting."
On the stage, the curtain slowly rose,
a beautiful girl stepped onto the stage amidst the entourage of many attendants.
Because of the spoilers, Margaret knew that the character appearing now must be Princess Anne, so she instinctively scrutinized the actress.
She murmured softly, "So young."
The Queen smiled, "Isn't that good? The leading actress is a princess, so the actress needs to have a princess-level beauty, grace, and chastity. Beauty is one thing, but grace and chastity need to be naturally expressed."
She added,
"Just like you, Rita."
Margaret was very happy to be praised like this, but still couldn't help saying, "But she's younger than me."
The Queen couldn't help but chuckle,
"Alrightalright let's just watch the play."
Margaret shifted her focus back to the stage.
The role of Princess Anne, played by Phyllis, embarks on a journey to Rome, with busy days filled with endless public duties and boring banquets,
which she detests.
In the script, there's a small detail where Princess Anne feels tired from standing in high heels for a long time, so she quietly takes them off,
resulting in her leaving them behind when she could have sat down.
Phyllis portrayed that embarrassment and panic very convincingly.
There were kind laughter from the audience.
Margaret nodded, "Impressive! In just a few minutes, Professor Lu has portrayed Princess Anne's dilemma, while Wilde did the same thing in 'The Fan of Windermere' but it took a whole act. The strength of the playwright is evident."
The Queen, curious, asked,
"You've also seen 'The Fan of Windermere'?"
"Oh, well..."
Margaret hesitated.
Actually, she had only started reading Wilde's works because Lu admired Wilde,
but she couldn't let her grandmother know about this reason.
Fortunately, the pace of the play was relatively fast, and the Queen didn't delve further,
they refocused their attention on the stage.
Princess Anne returned to her room,
the attendants advised her to rest, but she resisted and got angry,
but the attendants remained unmoved, still "persuading" her to rest, even giving her milk with sleeping pills.
In the original movie, the attendants actually used sedatives,
but sedatives weren't used until the 1940s in certain medical contexts, so Lu naturally couldn't come up with high-tech beyond the era, otherwise, the romantic comedy would turn into a sci-fi drama.
However, this substitution didn't affect the plot.
Even though Princess Anne knew she had taken sleeping pills, she couldn't resist her yearning for freedom, changed into ordinary clothes, and left "home" quietly in the dead of night.
Slowly, the sleeping pills started to take effect,
Anne hadn't gone far before she was forced to rest by the roadside.
At that moment, the male lead—journalist Joe, made his entrance.
He found the beautiful girl alone here and struck up a conversation,
but before he could say much, Anne fell asleep.
Joe wanted to take her home, but couldn't wake her up;
wanted to hand her over to the carriage driver, but the stubborn driver refused.
Helpless, Joe had to take the girl back home, only to discover that the headline figure on the newspaper, Princess Anne, was the same girl he had picked up.
With that, the first act ended.
The Queen put down her small telescope, revealing a rather satisfied smile,
"Very good."
Margaret asked in surprise, "Grandmother, do you really think this 'Roman Holiday' is better than 'Yes! Prime Minister'? Even I feel that the beginning of this play is a bit... um..."
Margaret stopped, seemingly searching for the right words.
The Queen asked, "Do you think this beginning is too ordinary?"
Margaret nodded,
"I do feel that way."
She puzzled over it.
The Queen chuckled,
"The reason lies in 'Yes! Prime Minister.' Because of its sudden emergence, it raised your expectations for theater. It's like being used to drinking fine Chinese tea, then going back to Indian black tea, it might be hard to swallow."
The logic seemed similar.
Margaret contemplated for a while and asked again, "Then why did you think the first act of 'Roman Holiday' was very good?"
The Queen said, "Because although the script of 'Roman Holiday' is simple, it's also perfect. It's like a text that would appear in textbooks, not necessarily dazzling, but solid enough."
Margaret hadn't expected her grandmother to consider it from the perspective of literary creation,
Indeed, the first act of "Roman Holiday" clearly sets out the story's premise, with vividly complete content, plot, character imagery, and emotions,
Following this pace, it's bound to escalate.
The Queen said, "If I were to choose teaching material for drama students, I would definitely choose 'Roman Holiday' over 'Yes! Prime Minister.' Professor Lu demonstrates textbook-level creative skills in this play."