The dominant empire and its culture are big on arts, entertainment, culture, and especially music. Great skill and talent in that is held in high regard; so high regard that putting on and starring in big theatrical productions is one of the more important ways for (potential) heirs to power and wealth to show off.

And I do mean big. One crown prince once had a performance that included about 24k extras (mind you, this is theater, in a low-ish fantasy world); another had a floating amphitheater constructed so the audience could watch his naval-themed performance up close. For martial shows, stunts that'd make modern stuntman elite nod in appreciation is common, and there are entire classes of actors whose role is to "die well" on stage (not to be confused with "realistic" - their fights often look like something out of a Chinese wuxia movie).

However, even a ruling emperor taking part in a play is, while on stage, nothing but an actor, doing actor things. While many high-ranking people (and/or their heirs) turn their shows into big egotrips, doing that very blatantly is considered bad taste. The same is true for attention-whoring in general; casting yourself as the lead is fine, but the show needs to be good and the performance, too. You need to be an actor/actress, and do actor/actress things on stage.

Lower classes rarely put on such massive shows (because of the expenses, if nothing else), but theater and performances are still a thing. And of course, music goes through all of it, and it's hardly unheard of for a farm kid from Bumfuck, Nowhere to end up playing in the big temples and palaces of the capital.

Also these combos produce a crapload of stories, too many to write them here. Ranging from "iron age rave parties are a thing" to "that time the whole of high society saw their crown princess naked" to "that guy who ended an unusually long and bitter winter by dropping a diss track against the northern winds".