No lighting up - but Class A drugs are OK

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are coke heads - thanks to the city's
unbendable ban on smoking

Lorna Martin, Scotland editor
Sunday August 13, 2006
The Observer

The director of a Fringe play has turned one of its famous characters
into a cocaine addict because Scotland's smoking ban prevents him
lighting up on stage. Ben Waring, director of Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead, said the play had to be 'modernised' because
smoking was a key characteristic of one of its lead roles.

Critics of Scotland's smoking ban have said it is suppressing artistic
freedom and spoiling some productions in which smoking is an integral
part.

In Waring's version of the Tom Stoppard play, one of the main
characters, Rosencrantz, will now be snorting the Class A drug to
explain his erratic behaviour, previously put down to his persistent
habit of smoking cannabis.

The move comes after a series of high-profile actors and directors have
threatened to ignore the ban on smoking in public places. Last week,
council officials threatened to shut down the Assembly Rooms if actor
Mel Smith, playing Winston Churchill in Allegiance, lit up one of his
character's famous cigars on stage.

Smith, who is a cigar-smoker off-stage, criticised the law saying: 'It
would have delighted Adolf Hitler. Congratulations, Scotland.'

Waring, whose production is being staged at C Venues, said it was
disappointing that the original version had to be changed. He said: 'The
scene is a speech which contemplates what death would be like.
Rosencrantz rambles on about this as his mind wanders and Guildenstern
has to keep stopping him.

'For this performance we modernised the play, just as Hamlet has been
modified many times. We basically thought that Rosencrantz's behaviour
was very much like the behaviour of a stoner, so when we performed the
play in England we had Rosencrantz smoking a joint.'

For the Edinburgh Fringe performance, it has been turned into a
'coke-addled rant'.

Waring said that, although it was a small part of the play, it was
disappointing that it had to be changed. 'It is the loss of liberty that
is the most disappointing part.' He has, however, inserted a joke into
the play about the ban.

Rosencrantz attempts to roll a joint, but is told by Guildenstern that
smoking is banned. Rosencrantz's response is to throw down the joint he
has just rolled in disgust.

He picks up his powder box and delivers the same speech as a
cocaine-induced rant.

The independent MSP Brian Monteith has said the ban was making Scotland
the laughing stock of the artistic community.

He said: 'The purpose of the smoking ban, particularly as it affects
stage plays, is not based on any measurable health risk but it seeks to
de-normalise and ostracise smokers. 'All this does is make Scotland less
free than North Korea or Cuba, and it makes us the laughing stock of the
artistic community.'

Last week, Edinburgh City Council warned the Assembly Rooms that it
faced fines of up to £5,000 and could lose its entertainment licence if
Mel Smith puffed on one of his Churchillian cigars while on stage.

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  Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed
  immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's
  understanding without guidance from another. This
  immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in
  lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and
  courage to use it without guidance from another.
  Sapere Aude! [dare to know] "Have courage to use your
  own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.