TOBACCO will exit stage left from Irish theatres and film sets tomorrow, as Micheal Martin’s smoking ban makes a dramatic difference to plays, movies and television series.

It will now be as illegal for actors to smoke on stage, as it has been for the audience to light up in the stalls. RTE and film-makers will not be able to portray characters smoking indoors.

Irish theatres have had to make contingency plans for when the curtain falls on tobacco tomorrow, because most plays currently staged feature characters who smoke.

Using herbal cigarettes will be the most common remedy, but the Olympia Theatre in Dublin has changed the stage directions in The Woman Who Walked Into Doors in response to the legislation, the first national smoking ban in the world.

Currently the lead character lights up a cigarette and takes several pulls before extinguishing it in a cup. From tomorrow the character, played by Hilda Fay, will take out the cigarette, hold it for several minutes, but not light it.

Fay, a reformed smoker in real life, thinks the ban will help her stay off the fags. The character she plays in RTE’s Fair City is also a regular smoker.

“The ban doesn’t affect me much in this production and overall it’s going to help me in my quest to stay off smoking,” said Fay. “I’ve tried herbals but they’re absolutely horrible. If I have to use them, so be it.”

The Abbey Theatre says actors in its productions will switch to herbals, which are not covered by the legislation because it specifically bans tobacco.

Defender of the Faith, Stuart Carolan’s play currently being staged at the Peacock, features four characters who smoke, two of them heavily. Wilson Milam, the director, has asked the stage manager to buy a wide variety of herbal cigarettes for the actors to try in advance of tomorrow’s production.

“Nobody likes them, they’re vile,” complained Milam. “The actors will probably smoke less during the play because the herbals are so obnoxious.

“The characters don’t really have to smoke, but the play is set in a time and a place where there was a lot of smoking. That’s what people did to survive.”

Milam says New York, which also bans smoking in public places, gave theatres an exemption for artistic purposes. Auditoriums post up warning notices that characters will smoke during performances, so that people who object can sit at the back. Theatres have more sophisticated ventilation equipment to help them cope.

Smoking is critical to create atmosphere in many plays, Milam argues, citing The Odd Couple, Look Back in Anger, and The Glass Menagerie. The Gate Theatre said its current production of Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa features Woodbine cigarettes prominently. “Maggie is a big fan of them and she does have a couple of fags. She will swap them for herbals this week,” said a spokeswoman. “It doesn’t play a huge part in the play but there are a couple of scenes where she does light up.”

Fair City, the RTE soap, has applied to the Department of Health for a derogation but has not received a response. Health officials say RTE shouldn’t hold its breath — Martin has given exemptions to prisons and psychiatric hospitals but won’t be giving any more.

“They can use herbal cigarettes in the same way as they don’t use real beer in McCoy’s pub (Fair City’s local),” said an unsympathetic Department of Health official. “They can still have smoking in outdoor scenes.”

“Until we hear back about the derogation, we will comply with the ban,” said an RTE spokeswoman. “Our current programme guidelines stipulate that you can’t smoke on programmes with the exception of drama, and Fair City is the only one we’re shooting at the moment.”

Future dramas will also have to apply to the Department of Health for derogations if they want to feature characters smoking indoors, but RTE believes herbal cigarettes are a more likely option.

Herbals may only be a short-term solution for those who want a puff in the workplace, however. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland now believes it is no longer ethical to sell herbals in light of recent information on the serious health risk they pose.

Chemists say that from tomorrow their shops will resemble “walk-in smoking cessation clinics”. Pharmacists are promising to wear special badges encouraging customers to ask for advice on quitting, and leaflets and posters will be displayed in dispensaries.

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