The story of the Catalan theatre that drew attention to a VAT rise on theatre tickets by replacing them with carrots, which incur a lower tax is across the media like a rash this morning. It’s a savvy way of drawing attention to the plight of theatre in the midst of Spanish recession, we must hope that the ‘quirky story’ gains some political traction, for the story behind the stunt is a serious one – taxes are up and ticket sales are down.

I’m reminded of the theatre festival we attended in the Czech Republic whose symbol was a carrot. On querying this we were told that the in Czech the word for carrot puns in some way with a word for death.

Any other offers of links between theatre and the carrot?