Stage Winston Churchill Stubs Out Cigar

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The New York Sun

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND — Winston Churchill was forced to put aside his cigar yesterday in obedience to Scotland’s ban on smoking.

The actor and comedian Mel Smith, playing Winston Churchill in an Edinburgh fringe show, lit a cigar during a photo-call over the weekend, and threatened, in true bulldog fashion, to have a puff when the play, “Allegiance,” opened.

But after environmental officers visited the city’s Assembly Rooms venue an hour before the show opened and threatened to close down the venue, Mr. Smith decided to portray Britain’s wartime leader without the play’s “integral” smoking scene.

Theaters may be exempted in England and Wales from the smoking ban due to come into force next summer, but in Scotland, the legislation applies to all enclosed public spaces, including film sets and theater stages.The law has been widely observed north of the border.

The artistic director of the Assembly Rooms, William Burdett-Coutts, was told that he would be held liable if a performer smoked and would face a fine of $381 and the loss of his license.

“We had a visit from the chief environmental officer this morning, who said he would shut down the venue,” Mr. Burdett-Coutts said.

“During the scene, Mel got out the cigar and a lighter, but then he put them down to the side.

“I think it’s absurd. In the context of an international festival like this, it’s crazy. It’s integral to the part of Churchill, and it doesn’t affect other people.”

Other productions have threatened to defy the ban, which was introduced in March. But none so far has risked the consequences of having a venue shut down.


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