20 Cigarettes

20 Cigarettes is a radio play commissioned by the BBC and written by Marcy Kahan, author of the 1991 film Antonia and Jane. Kahan was commissioned in 2007 to rewrite the play for the stage by the National Youth Theatre. The production was directed by Toby Frow, and was, contrary to contemporary media assertions, the first instance of smoking on stage after the English smoking ban. It was performed between 15 August and 30 August 2007 at the Soho Theatre as part of the Soho Theatre's collaboration with the National Youth Theatre. The 2007 production was also the first to include a non-youth actor, in Simon Dutton, one of the actors who played the protagonist, Simon Templar in the television series The Saint.