Description

In the glittering yet hushed dining room of a fashionable Berlin restaurant, a young English diplomat, Francis Norgate, finds himself drawn into a delicate game of conversation with a striking Austrian‑English baroness. Their banter, laced with cultural observations and polite flirtation, reveals more than mere curiosity about each other’s backgrounds; it hints at hidden motives beneath the polished veneer of post‑war European society. As they sip champagne and exchange veiled compliments, the baroness subtly probes Norgate’s loyalties, testing the line between professional duty and personal desire.

The encounter sets the stage for a subtle dance of deception, where diplomatic niceties mask deeper ambitions. Listeners will be swept into a world of opulent salons, shifting alliances, and the quiet tension of a continent still reshaping itself after conflict. The first act promises a tantalizing blend of wit, charm, and the promise that not everything spoken over a dinner table is as it seems.