Food comedy: Milan play is acted... then eaten

MILAN (Reuters Life!) - After going to a play that revolves around a recipe, theatre goers in Milan can then taste the food that was the object of desire and confrontation on the stage.

Billed as Italy's first food comedy, "Flan di Carote" (Carrot Souffle) is an experimental play that focuses on lovers skirmishing as they make a carrot souffle.

Viewers are welcomed with an aperitif, and, after the show a tasting of the souffle and other local specialties is offered.

"We want the spectator to have a multi-sensorial experience before and after the play so that the show can be a real marriage of food and feelings," said Roberta Spagnoli, one of the authors of the short story on which the play is based.

Spagnoli's book is a collection of short stories each based on a different element of a sumptuous menu. It won Italy's Bancarella prize for cook books this year.

In the play, which is set in a kitchen, the female protagonist tests her limited cooking ability to appease her lover.

The audience can not only view the preparation but smell the food, which is actually prepared by real chefs off stage.

"The text is about a relationship and the kitchen is its battlefield," said director Gianfranco Clerici.

(Reporting by Lisa Jucca, editing by Paul Casciato)