Mangoes, White Mughals, Dancers and Desire - A TASTE FOR MANGOES is Tara Arts' latest play, to be staged at the unique Wilton's Music Hall, the oldest musical hall in London, near Tower Bridge this Autumn. The play, directed by Jatinder Verma, takes a 19th Century painting as the inspiration for a sensuous tale set during the time of the white moghuls in India.

In a rich evocation of the period, the show interweaves dance, music and drama together with recipes which form the narrative thread: recipes for delicious and exotic foods and the mixing of perfume and spices, the qualities of a good horse or hunting hawk, recipes for gunpowder, music and love.

Wilton's Music Hall is one of London's best-kept secrets, a magical and beguiling venue full of history and faded grandeur. It promises to offer Tara audiences an enticing new theatrical experience.

In 1811 an Indian artist paints a scene, showing a man of style and distinction in opulent surroundings - a richly patterned carpet, scented flowers, windows open to the descending twilight. He sits with assurance, cross-legged on sumptuous cushions, clothed in the simple elegance of Mughal costume and about to take a puff on his hookah. A pirouetting dancing girl engages his attention. Compared to the young and handsome princeling at his shoulder, the man is old ...and he is white. Above him, from the distant silence of their frames, four portraits - three men in European military dress-uniform and a woman in a high-waisted European dress of the period - gaze upon the scene. In reproach?

Tara Arts' latest play comes complete with a recipe for "Mango Murabah". The Cinnamon Club - London's top fusion restaurant - is providing the menu on offer each night!

A Taste for Mangoes opens at Wilton's Music Hall on 18 November 2003 for 3 weeks only.

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