Bravo, Equity!
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 9:00 Members of the actors' union Equity have rejected a motion acknowledging that smoking on stage is a health risk.
Smoking is currently prohibited on film and stage sets in Scotland and Wales but not in England.
A UK-wide poll conducted for Forest in June 2015 found opinion divided evenly on whether actors should or should not be allowed to smoke on stage when smoking is integral to the plot or storyline, with 50 per cent saying they should and 50 per cent saying they shouldn't.
However a poll in Scotland in March 2016 found that 52 per cent thought it should be allowed against 39 per cent who thought it shouldn't.
This result was echoed by a poll in Wales in March this year which found that 51 percent thought smoking should be allowed on stage with 38 per cent against the idea.
According to The Stage the motion was brought to 'officially' acknowledge that 'smoking on stage is unhealthy for performers and audience'.
If this refers to non-smokers on stage and in the auditorium, I'd love to see the evidence that supports this claim. To the best of my knowledge it doesn't exist.
However the proposer also claimed that the motion 'came from a stage manager who had to buy cigarettes for actors, at least one of whom he claimed was an ex-smoker who had returned to the habit after being asked to smoke onstage.'
On such feeble anecdotal evidence are smoking bans frequently introduced. On this occasion however members of Equity have put common sense - and artistic freedom - ahead of petty anti-smoking dogma.
Bravo!
Reader Comments (5)
"To the best of my knowledge it doesn't exist."
Does it ever? All you have to do is say, "studies have shown...", and the science is settled.
Ssshhhh - it won't be long before they demand obedience from the film industry with a banning law. Meanwhile, thank God for artists who know what real life is made up of, unlike the puritan prohibitionists and their stooges in Public Health.
@ Bucko
Don't forget the other favourite:
"Experts have said..."
Yes, this is a good step. The lifestyle controllers hate free expression as it interferes with their prohibitionist propaganda.
It's a shame the American film industry (which has essentially caved to every one of Stan the Airplane Mechanic's crackpot demands in recent years) lacks the conviction and moral fiber of these British stage actors. Bravo to them.