Israeli theatre hit with lawsuit for allowing smoking on stage

Dec 4, 2009, 9:04 GMT

Tel Aviv - In what is believed to be the first legal action of its kind in the world, Israel's Haifa Theatre may be hit with a class-action lawsuit for allowing an actress to smoke on stage as part of her role.

The application to have the suit recognised by the court was filed by lawyer Amos Hausner, chairman of the National Council for the Prevention of Smoking, on behalf of a fellow lawyer, Einav Avrahami.

Avrahami objected to actress Orly Zilberschatz-Bania smoking on stage for about 30 minutes during a production of David Mamet's 'The Old Neighbourhood.'

Haifa Theatre told the German Press Agency dpa that once it receives notification of the lawsuit, its legal representatives will deal with it.

The play is being put on at the Haifa Municipal Theatre Hall, which is owned by the municipality.

By law, the Haifa municipality is responsible for enforcing the no-smoking laws in the northern Israeli city. This, argued Hausner in his application to have the Haifa District court accept his suit, is a conflict of interest.

He asked the court to set the compensation for the damage to the theatre audience at 1,000 Israelis shekels (about 265 dollars) each, or a total of 4 million shekels (1.06 million dollars), as he calculated that some 3,800 theatre-goers have already seen the play, or will have done so by the end of its run.

Avrahami said the play's director could have given Zilberschatz- Banai a harmless and smokeless substitute, but the theatre, a small one with only 158 seats - refused.

She said she was fighting for a principle, since the health of the audience - and of the actors who performed several times a day - was at risk due to exposure of toxins.

Hausner even argued that while the play presented a character as smoking, it did not require the actor or actress to actually light up a cigarette.

Israel's Supreme Court awarded 1,000 shekels three years ago to a woman exposed to smoke at a Jerusalem restaurant. Since then, higher amounts in compensation have been handed down by the courts.

Israel's no-smoking laws ban smoking inside public places of entertainment.