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Naturist Paris play performed before naked audience

Braving a chilly night in Paris, around 300 theatre goers stripped off to watch the first naturist play performed in the French capital, a one-off comedy act whose attraction, according to one practicing naturist present, was because 'there is no better way of laughing than to laugh in the nude'.

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It might seem like a cruel joke on one of the coldest nights of the year, but French naturists are in the pink over the success of a Paris play the audience had to strip to see, reports The Nation.

Undeterred by the chilling name of the venue, the Palace of Ice, nudists shed their winter woolies to watch the farce sending up those who object to their lifestyle.

"There is no better way of laughing than to laugh in the nude," said Cedric Amato, the head of a Paris nudist group, who braved a forecast of snow to attend.

The one-off show, about a brother and sister who find themselves on opposing sides of prickly social issues, was the first all-nude show in a major venue in the French capital.

The producers insisted that the audience must strip off to see the play, and that everyone must bring their own towel for hygiene reasons.

VIPs, however, were provided with their own microfibre seat covering.

"Nu et approuve", which translates as nude and approved, is a play on words of a formula commonly used in France for signing official documents.

The squabbling siblings "have to drop their masks and bare all to find a more relaxed common ground."

Read more of this AFP report published by The Nation.