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The impact of the ban on smoking in public buildings, being introduced in England on 1 July, could have an adverse affect on theatrical performances that involve characters smoking on stage. This will be permitted as part of a performance if artistic integrity makes it appropriate, though the legally acceptable inter-pretation of this is as yet uncertain.
No exemptions exist for smoking on stage in Scotland or Wales, even for herbal cigarettes a means by which New Yorkers got round the rules following their 2003 smoking ban. The Scottish Executive says that second-hand smoke is harmful and that the ban is there to protect people: &this applies equally to actors, performers and theatrical audiences as it does to other workers and members of the public. In Wales, anyone caught smoking in smoke-free premises faces a £50 fixed penalty fine and the manager of a smoke-free building can be fined up to £2,500 for failing to stop someone smoking. In Northern Ireland, where the smoking ban became law on 30 April, Brian Friel was asked to re-write a scene in Dancing at Lughnasa for Belfasts Lyric Theatre: now, the Northern Ireland Assembly is plan-ning to reverse its outright ban and permit smoking by such performers if artistic integrity so requires.