Wednesday, December 16, 2009
To smoke or not to smoke, that is the question
Los Angeles Times: "The Jersey Boys do it. Estelle Parsons does it regularly in 'August: Osage County.' Practically every actor who's been in a Noel Coward play has done it too."
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2 comments:
The logic comparing banning smoking in bars and public spaces to smoking in a theatrical performance is irrelevant. Smoking on stage is not a way to allow the actor to get a cigarette in during a performance. I agree with Kent Thompson, smoking can be an integral part of a character and a performance. Additionally, sometimes the integration of smoking onstage can be used to discourage smoking. Generally when a character smokes onstage, it does not say anything good about his or her life.
Short of being able to enforce a law that says "you can't smoke if you're doing it because you want to smoke" you need to have something that can be passed and enforced. If the stage is a public place, then laws against smoking in public places will prevent smoking on stage. With the new technological developments there are starting to be some substitutes - the new electronic cigarettes you hear advertised sound like they could work, and without any nicotine or tobacco in them they should be able to fill in for actual cigarettes on stage while still providing everything except the smell.
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