Act I
All is not well in the pharaonic household in Alexandria. While the Egyptian queen Cleopatra may possess what other people can only dream of – wealth, power, hundreds of love slaves – she is still absolutely desperate: when will she ever find the one, true love of her life? But a monarch’s despair can be turned to the state’s advantage. Pampylos, Cleopatra’s wily minister, forges a plan with Charmian, the lady-in-waiting: to make Prince Beladonis of Persia the Queen’s lover and ally. But he turns up too late, and timing is everything… Pampylos’s plans are scotched by a virile Roman warrior who arrives with warnings of a rebellion. The hero’s name is Victorian Silvius (and he’s engaged to Charmian, which adds piquancy). Cleopatra is thrilled. She bewitches her favourite legionary with wine laced with love pearls, and before the night is over she names him palace commander on account of his special abilities. Pampylos is devastated, but salvation is at hand in the form of a catastrophic drought. The flooding of the Nile hasn’t happened and hunger threatens the people of Egypt. Action is needed. Cleopatra travels to the temple of the holy Ptah, Silvius’s fiancée is supposed to get married off to Pampylos, and revolutionary forces get ready to stage their coup; ringleader Kophra tries to win over Silvius for the palace putsch.
Act II
Cleopatra’s intercession has achieved the desired result: the Nile rises, all of Egypt is overjoyed. All of Egypt? Kophra’s insurrectionary ambitions are still smouldering. At the last moment, Pampylos manages to arrest the rebels. Cleopatra in her fury knows no mercy; Silvius is also to be punished for loving Charmian. Finally, after all this hullabaloo, the hour of the debutant comes. His name: Beladonis. Yet wine, pearl and love potion do nothing to alleviate the sovereign’s heartache. What will become of Pampylos’s planned alliance? What of the pining Queen? What will Cleopatra’s cat Ingeborg advise, and what does Pampylos’s peculiar not mean…?
