Smoking in theatre

[eleanor1]

 

 

 

My name is Eleanor and I am a second year Stage Management student at Royal welsh College of Music and Drama. I am currently doing a project about smoking in theatre and was wondering if you could answer the following questions for me to get an overall opinion of my subject.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think the welsh government should relax the smoking law to allow for theatre to be an exception?

 

 

 

 

Do you think the smoking law has and will continue to impact Wales’ development and economy in the entertainment industry?

 

Have you had any issues from directors regarding the smoking law since it was introduced?

 

Do you thinking that having actors smoke on stage is promoting smoking?

 

 

 

 

thanks!

 

 

[ninjadingle]

Hi Eleanor,

 

You should have a look at the "Research Help Wanted" forum, including the pinned post "Forum Rules". Then perhaps revisit your post?

 

Initial thought - Why are you restricting your research to just Wales? the smoking ban has affected most if not all theatres in the UK, by restricting your questions to just Welsh venues you will get a very limited response....

[Ynot]

Initial thought - Why are you restricting your research to just Wales? the smoking ban has affected most if not all theatres in the UK, by restricting your questions to just Welsh venues you will get a very limited response....

Actually, as I understand it, Wales is the only country to actually outright ban smoking on stage - it is (I believe) legal to do so in England and possibly Scotland, though I can't actually find direct evidence to support that on a quick Googe...

[ninjadingle]

I read the first 2 questions to mean the theatre as a whole, including auditorium, not just the stage.... Misunderstood?

[eleanor1]

hi sorry I'm new to this forum, thanks for the advice.

[TomHoward]

I read the first 2 questions to mean the theatre as a whole, including auditorium, not just the stage.... Misunderstood?

I would assume it means on stage, as essentially smoking in the audience is a moot point as there's all sorts of reasons that wouldn't work today.

 

Re the law, there's a paragraph from NODA which I've just copied and pasted out of an email I send but not looked for the original source:

 

EXEMPTION FOR SMOKING ON STAGE

The law in England does provide an exemption for smoking on stage, where the artistic integrity of a performance makes it appropriate for a person who is taking part in the performance to smoke. This exemption does not apply to rehearsals.

The absence of any definition of “performance” or “artistic integrity” will mean that there are bound to be disagreements with local authorities as to whether smoking should be allowed or disallowed. NODA takes the view, which has been supported by the Department of Health (DoH), that the exemption covers both occasions in the script where smoking is clearly intended (eg. Noel Coward), and directorial concepts (eg. setting a Shakespeare play in 1950s Cuba).

NODA has been involved in negotiating this exemption with the DoH. The DoH has allowed that a dress rehearsal, as long as there are some people in attendance in addition to the actors and the production team, would count as a performance and should therefore be exempt.

The DoH strongly recommends that a society planning to apply this exemption contacts its local authority smoking enforcement department in advance of the performance. This is to enable the local authority to note that the smoking in the production will be in accordance with the exemption from the ban and to respond accordingly to any complaints it may receive from members of the public. Without doubt there will be confusion on the part of certain members of the public, who may believe that the smoking they have witnessed on stage is in breach of the law. It will also show that the society has taken reasonable precautions to comply with the law.

NODA recommends that, to avoid confusion, a notice is displayed on the way into the auditorium warning customers that the production includes smoking on stage, in accordance with the exemption permitted in the Health Act 2006.

One thing that should be borne in mind is that the guidance issued to local authorities on how to enforce the law states, “This exemption does not apply to rehearsals or to persons other than the performer who should be identified in the script”. This is in excess of the wording of the law. There is no requirement in the Health Act 2006 for the performer to be identified in the script.

 

Re the 4 original questions (although I've never worked in a Welsh theatre);

 

Do you think the welsh government should relax the smoking law to allow for theatre to be an exception?

I don't really think personally that smoking on stage is generally that integral to a theatrical performance, so it doesn't worry me too much if they didn't.

 

Do you think the smoking law has and will continue to impact Wales’ development and economy in the entertainment industry?

Couldn't say, but I doubt it would have had that much of an impact.

 

Have you had any issues from directors regarding the smoking law since it was introduced?

We haven't had any issues, but we are allowed to smoke on stage with certain restrictions being followed.

 

Do you thinking that having actors smoke on stage is promoting smoking?

Not promoting smoking particularly as I think most audiences react relatively negatively to it now.

 

For me, with the productions we've had with smoking in, in a 300 seat venue the smell of smoke can be pretty much smelt throughout the venue straight away. These days, since there's almost nowhere indoors public you can smoke anyway, generally I think audiences react more negatively to it, and I think in the balance of the theatrical presentation, the distraction of the smell and people reacting to seeing someone smoking inside generally is more disruptive than modifying the script to write out the smoking would have been.

[eleanor1]

 

thank you very much for you reply!

 

 

 

[David Ripley]

When the ban came in in Scotland, the Act referred to 'the act of smoking' I know as I had to read the legislation at the time.

 

This meant that you could not smoke onstage under any circumstances - the late Mel Smith got into trouble as, when playing Winston Churchill at the Fringe, he threatened to light up: Independent Article

 

We had lots of fun with talc filled tubes, early e-cigs and what not but ultimately we just didn't have smoking onstage. We would have, for instance, a cigarette and a lit lighter or match but never would they meet.

 

In England there is an 'artistic justification' clause that allows you to light up onstage but I would imagine you need agreement from the actors for that and possibly others who may be affected - directors, SMs and so forth

 

At Central we ban it completely as we see it as a duty of care to our students, even if, as many do, they smoke already

 

David

[TaliaS]

When the ban came in in Scotland, the Act referred to 'the act of smoking' I know as I had to read the legislation at the time.

 

This meant that you could not smoke onstage under any circumstances - the late Mel Smith got into trouble as, when playing Winston Churchill at the Fringe, he threatened to light up: Independent Article

 

We had lots of fun with talc filled tubes, early e-cigs and what not but ultimately we just didn't have smoking onstage. We would have, for instance, a cigarette and a lit lighter or match but never would they meet.

 

In England there is an 'artistic justification' clause that allows you to light up onstage but I would imagine you need agreement from the actors for that and possibly others who may be affected - directors, SMs and so forth

 

At Central we ban it completely as we see it as a duty of care to our students, even if, as many do, they smoke already

 

David

 

 

Hi David,

 

What are your views on Herbal cigarettes such as the Honeyrose brand? I remember buying them for a show when I was a student at Central but of course you can tell as an audience member that they smell different and sweeter in comparison to normal cigarettes.

[adam2]

My view is that smoking on stage should be allowed throughout the UK when needed for "artistic integrity" subject of course to proper ventilation to protect the health of others, and to proper fire precautions. If it were up to me, I would also make it a requirement that the actor who is to smoke on stage must already be an habitual smoker.

 

I would not want even one person to take up smoking because they "had" to smoke for theatre purposes.

 

 

 

[gareth]

I've worked a LOT in theatres in Wales, so here's my response ...

Do you think the welsh government should relax the smoking law to allow for theatre to be an exception?

No.

 

Do you think the smoking law has and will continue to impact Wales' development and economy in the entertainment industry?

No. But for it to "continue" to do so, you have to demonstrate that it already has - and I think you'd struggle to do that.

 

Have you had any issues from directors regarding the smoking law since it was introduced?

None that I've been aware of.

Do you thinking that having actors smoke on stage is promoting smoking?

No.

 

[Owain]

Do you thinking that having actors smoke on stage is promoting smoking?

Yes. Even if it's only one actor and one cigarette, that is one cigarette that probably wouldn't be smoked otherwise.

 

 

What is in the cigarette makes no difference (and if anyone smells a herbal cigarette and doesn't recognise it, they may jump to a false conclusion about the identity of the herb concerned!).

 

 

 

 

 

[kerry davies]

Same responses as Gareth apart from the last.

 

Promoting smoking? Maybe, maybe not but I gave up a couple of years ago after a lifetime use and the only time I fancy a cigarette now is when I see someone on film spark up. Her indoors smokes in her own room and it doesn't bother me the same way as TV and film. It is kind of strange in that Johnny Depp was shown smoking an e-cig and I automatically reached for my vape machine which I hadn't used for months and even then used nicotine free fluid.

 

The mental aspects of addiction are strange indeed!

[David Ripley]

Hi Talia

 

The trouble with any kind of smoking is the potential harm. That is the reason we also don't allow vapes or e-cigarettes. We simply don't know what the risks are in these types of smoking materials and the same goes for herbals.

 

I also think that herbals still form the unpleasant deposits in the lungs etc, just due to the fact your inhaling smoke.

 

We banned as a duty of care to students and also to preclude being held liable for something we currently don't know about in 10 or 20 years time

 

David

[Bryson]

I don't really see how people are able to square asking actors to smoke (regardless of any "theatre" exemptions") with their safety duties as the actor's employer.

 

If a play had heroin usage in it, we wouldn't dare ask an actor to actually shoot up, would we? Even if it was "just water" - we would find a way to fake it or conceal it. The same principle applies here.