TEHRAN- Iranian director Ebrahim Poshte Kouhi’s acclaimed play “Like Water for Chocolate,” adapted from the novel by Mexican author Laura Esquivel, is set to be staged at the Baghdad International Theater Festival, which will be held from October 10 to 18.

Written and directed by Poshte Kouhi, the production is based on Esquivel’s internationally known novel of the same name and was first staged in Iran in 2013.

“Like Water for Chocolate” has previously appeared at several theater events and received awards for best actress, best music, best stage design and best costume design.

Poshte Kouhi is no stranger to the Baghdad International Theater Festival. Two of his other productions, “Macbeth Zaar” and “Particles of Chaos,” have previously won the festival’s Grand Prize.

The Iranian director has also presented his works at theater festivals in Moscow, Munich, St. Petersburg, Shaki, Baku, Yerevan and Budapest, among other cities.

His productions often draw on Iranian cultural traditions and performance rituals while seeking to establish a dialogue with international audiences.

“Like Water for Chocolate” follows Tita, a young woman whose love for Pedro is thwarted by a family tradition that requires her to remain unmarried and care for her mother. Forced to watch Pedro marry her sister, Tita expresses her emotions through the food she prepares, with her feelings seemingly passing into her cooking and affecting those who eat it.

Blending love, family conflict, and magical realism, the story explores the ways in which personal emotions and suppressed desires can challenge social and family traditions. Through its interplay of everyday life, memory and the supernatural, the play offers a poetic portrayal of love and resistance against restrictions imposed by tradition.

SAB/