smoking on stage

[myf]

We're working on a production which calls for a character to light and smoke a cigarette on stage. We can't have them smoke real cigarettes due to fire restrictions (and she's a non-smoker anyway), but we don't want to cut it out of the play. Can anyone suggest ways of doing this?

[peternewman]

Could you bodge something together with an LED, a AAA battery and a switch, or be really smart and make it a latching reed switch and a magnet in the lighter.

 

Please note I have never done this before, just some ideas for you to think about.

 

PN

[wilf]

You could try these http://www.thecostumer.com/store/product.cfm?prodID=445

They are in the US but will ship to uk

[sam.henderson]

I have seen and used fake cigerets for this type of thing before.

 

You can buy them in joke shops and when the actor blows into it it actually lets off smoke at the end. It works really well the only problem what about the lighter. You could just completely drain one of gas and use that. This should work, but be careful to completely drain gas from lighter and fire proof fake cigi as well just in case she picks up a real lighter instead of the prop!!! (It happened!!!)

 

You may need a few (i.e. one for each night) depending on how much she will use it and how long your production will run.

 

Hope I have been helpful,

 

Sam

[andystone]

You should be able to use real cigarettes as long as you use matches to light it and have ash trays with water in and suitable fire extinguishers around the stage.

 

Although there are fake cigarettes available there is nothing like the real thing!

 

Andy

Stagetec

[vinny baby]

LMFAO, I did a production of grease last year, and you know the bit where sandy smokes the cig, then stubbs it out on the floor.

 

Well the actress was told to light it, put it in her mouth, and not to suck!!

 

Well ya can imagined what happend, she sucked.

 

and she coughed up everywhere, she ran off stage and threw up in a props bucket!!

 

so funny <_<

 

 

vince

[sam.henderson]

You should be able to use real cigarettes as long as you use matches to light it and have ash trays with water in and suitable fire extinguishers around the stage.

 

Although there are fake cigarettes available there is nothing like the real thing!

Yeah but the actor is a non-smoker. I have come across some actors who we have asked to smoke a real one and have had a real moral issue with it- Well what can you say, there actors!

[Tomo]

Yeah but the actor is a non-smoker. I have come across some actors who we have asked to smoke a real one and have had a real moral issue with it- Well what can you say, there actors!

I have to say that I wouldn't either. Unless it was really necessary.

 

I may take some physical risks, but chemical risks are a definate and resounding NO!

[themadhippy]

how about some herbal ciggys,no not the kind I enjoy,I meen the ones you can get from the health food shops or here

[Andrew C]

how about some herbal ciggys

The gov. keep telling us that they're still illegal, even if now in a reduced class. Oh, you don't mean those "herbal" ciggies..... ;)

[myf]

Many thanks for the suggestions! We absolutely can't have naked flames on our stage - wooden floors, etc. And like I say, she's a non-smoker, so I'm not willing to ask her to smoke real ones, or herbal ones of any sort.

I think we can get away with the lighter - draining the gas out of one sounds like a good plan, so I'll give that a go.

 

Thanks again

[Blame Jono]

I watched a show once with an actor smoking and sat at the back of the stalls you could smell it, so for real authentasism you need a real cigarette. So maybe

bodge something together with an LED, a AAA battery and a switch, or be really smart and make it a latching reed switch and a magnet in the lighter.

but have some sort of smoke machine but with real cigarette smoke!

[Suzette]

We have just had a discussion regarding this (at a drama school) ... and the moral issues of asking students to smoke!

 

One suggestion is that the actors could have a cigarette and lighter in their hands but not actually light it. The actor could use it as a prop and constantly have it in their hand, play with it etc. but not actually light it.

 

It does depend on the show - eg the next show we are doing calls for an actor to light a cigarette and the next line is from another character saying "do you have to smoke?" This theme of one character smoking and annoying the other person with their smoking continues throughout the play, so will be difficult to do without actually lighting up!

[Andrew C]

but have some sort of smoke machine but with real cigarette smoke!

Use a beagle in the wings??

 

Slightly more seriously, there is nothing worse (well, not much), than getting smoke into all the soft fabrics in a room. It'll smell forever. Smokers may not notice it.

 

We have just had a discussion regarding this (at a drama school) ... and the moral issues of asking students to smoke!

Like to see you stop ours!!

[erroneousblack]

This will become more and more a vexed issue, we now get people asking box office if there is smoking in performances and refusing to book if there is! Soon there will be legislation that will effectively ban it in the workplace so that'll be the end of that. Good thing too.

 

PS If you do it, then use only a gas lighter to light it, then if it's dropped it goes straight out,. No matches or zippo's. As for the ashtrays, do what all the professionals do and fill them with the best thing to extinguish them quietly and effectively...KY Jelly, see if you can find a volunteer to buy enough tubes for the whole run!