Mel Smith flicks V at smoking ban

HE SHALL light up on the beaches, in the fields and... the Assembly Rooms. He shall never surrender.

Mel Smith, the comedian, actor and director, has flashed a giant Churchillian V-sign at the Scottish Parliament by threatening to smoke on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Smith, who plays the cigar-chomping wartime leader in the play Allegiance, claims the smoking ban "would have delighted Adolf Hitler".

Saying he only smokes a third of a cigar during the show, Smith states he would be "amazed" if anyone tried to stop him and challenges the authorities to "extradite" him if he does.

Smoking in any enclosed public space was made an offence in March this year and dozens of people have already been fined or cautioned.

This year's Fringe is the first since the ban was introduced and several other venues are threatening to break the law in what they insist are the interests of artistic integrity.

Smith's play, which is considered one of the must-see shows of the Fringe, is inspired by Irish rebel Michael Collins' real-life visit to London in 1921. The play is based on the fiction that, over the course of one night, Churchill and Collins meet and become friends.

Smith told Scotland on Sunday: "Who knows, maybe I'll light it [the cigar]. Maybe I won't. But maybe I will. I mean, what are they going to do to me? Are they going to extradite me?

"I would imagine that literally a third of a Romeo & Julietta [cigar] is all that gets smoked. On that basis, I would be amazed if anybody had the gall to try and stop me doing it.

"Maybe we should just say to people, 'Please be warned: Mel Smith does smoke a third of a Romeo & Julietta cigar in this show. If you fear for your health, don't come.'

"It's very funny, because I don't know why theatrically you're not allowed to."

The comedian went on to slam the Scottish Parliament, and made scathing comparisons between the originators of the bill and anti-smoking obsessive Adolf Hitler.

Smith, who has ruled out using a fake cigar, added: "I will not have people protecting me from myself. That's the whole problem with this country.

"I've often wondered what the Scottish Parliament does. Maybe this is an opportunity for me to find out. The thing I would like to say about it is that it would have delighted Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler, as you know, was anti-smoking. You couldn't smoke at Adolf Hitler's dining table, so he'd be pleased, wouldn't he? Congratulations Scotland."

Edwina Lunn, general manager of the Assembly Rooms, was relaxed in her response, even though they could be fined for allowing Smith to smoke.

She said: "We will be taking any breaking of the smoking ban very seriously and so will be providing Mel Smith with a month's supply of fake cigars and a Groucho Marx mask."

Smith is not the only act to have been affected by the ban. In the past few months, demands have mounted for the legislation to be revisited.

Hill Street Theatre manager Tomek Borkowy has vowed to defy the ban during the Fringe, branding it "communist censorship". He said that he would actively encourage actors to smoke on stage as part of their The Visitor production in August.

"The play in question is about a meeting between Sigmund Freud and God. Freud was a big smoker. It would be ridiculous not to show that because of a brainless piece of legislation."

The law as it stands imposes a £50 fine for those flouting the ban and a £200 penalty for the manager or owner of any premises which allows smoking.

Borkowy has written an open letter to the Scottish Parliament asking for the law to be changed.

He told Scotland on Sunday: "As a non-smoker I am not opposed to the ban totally, but it simply should not affect the theatre in this way. I hope they will see that their stupidity on this has been enormous. I will not pay any fine imposed on me and I will go to jail if I have to have my point heard."

The producers of Bill Hicks: Slight Return, about the comedian and chain smoker who died of cancer, have said they will bring back their show "in defiance of the smoking ban".

The show will return to Edinburgh after two sell-out years. In the past, the show's star, Chas Early, was seen smoking throughout. However, the company has already had a warning from city council chiefs. As a result, Early's Hicks character will step outside the Pleasance to smoke while the audience watches a TV projection.

Unprotected, which will run at the Traverse in August, is a drama about prostitutes being murdered and features smoking. The show's director, Nina Raine, said that while the ban is "outrageous" she will replace smoking with cups of tea during the performances to adhere with legislation.

Maureen Moore, chief executive of anti-smoking group Ash Scotland, had no sympathy for any actors wanting to smoke on stage. She said: "The theatre is a workplace. This law was brought in to protect people in the workplace. It is the law in Scotland and an actor is not above the law. While he or she is here they just have to adhere to it.

"When actors take drugs on stage they don't really inject. And when they have sex on stage they don't really have sex. So why use real smoke when there's a real health risk to actors and the audience?"

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "The smoking legislation aims to protect the public from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. This applies equally to actors, performers and theatrical audiences, as it does to other workers and members of the public. If smoking requires to be represented in film, TV and theatre performances, realistic alternatives can be used or developed."

Edinburgh City Council said any premises flouting the ban would be open to investigation.