I went to see this last night, my daughter had bought front row tickets as a Christmas present for me. I first saw this production in the 70s and have always loved it; I was so looking forward to it. Although I knew that in the TV production cigarette smoking featured prominently ( doesn’t Beverley flick ash over Lawrence as he lies dying? ) J I didn’t think in these days of legalisation it would be allowed on stage. I thought one of the many good fakes would perhaps be used or smoking just suggested.
I suffer from idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a progressive lung disease .As the disease has progressed I have become increasingly sensitive to some fumes, perfumes, chemical cleaners etc and have to avoid them where possible. The first half of the play featured Beverley and her friends lighting up on several occasions. At one time all five were smoking with the smoke drifting over the audience. It began to affect me (I also heard other people coughing) by the end of the first half I was feeling quite ill. We approached a member of staff who told us that the second half also featured smoking and offered to move us. She moved us to a box well away from the fumes. However, we lost the good view we had had.
My daughter said that at no time had she seen any warnings on the advert or tickets that smoking was featured or she would not have booked the seats that she did.
The play is on tour and the cast ,set and performance are fantastic! However, this is to warn others to sit well back!