To Smoke or not to Smoke

Just as the title suggests, a stunned Italian actor had to put out his cigarette he had lit up on stage after a spectator complained, forcing the theater to change the script of an Arthur Miller play to make it smoke-free.

In Italy, smoking is banned in all enclosed public places since January.

In the script, the actor was supposed to be smoking in a scene from the play "A View from the Bridge" by Arthur Miller. After he lit up, a woman from the audience shouted "put out that cigarette." The play stopped for 15 minutes, and the performance resumed with a modified script and the smoking parts were taken out.

The article was found on Reuters.

Was this pushing the ban too far? Or how about if we were that overzealous we could decide to ban movies with smoking scenes at your local theatre since the building prohibits it? Drinking could be next on the list.

What was the woman thinking? It makes better sense if the woman had her mobile phone ringing, then we all have the right to tell her to turn it off.

Comments

Posted by: online promotion expert
Posted on: June 19, 2006 10:16 AM

The woman's remark could be not attended to at all, I think. Smoking in this very case is a part of the whole performance and without it the production fo the play could not be that authentic. maybe because I am a smoker myself, Igo easy on smoking and on the contrary do not support bans.They are just another point for a controversy between people. Well, maybe the producer of the play should include something like " contains smoking scene "on the playbill not to subject poor lady to risk of inhaling cigarrte smoke.?