Guest Blog: This ain't no Cat in the Hat

Today's Guest Blogger: Dave Kelly, actor, True Love Lies

Ok, before I start, let me just say that smoking kills. Smoking causes cancer. The Surgeon General hates it, my Mom hates it, and I’m not a fan. It smells bad. It wrecks your teeth and your skin. But ... right there on page 6 of True Love Lies, it says, “Kane lights a cigarette”.

I play Kane.

So what’s a guy to do?

In scene 5, in the middle of an argument with my daughter Madison, she yells at me: “Then why are you smoking?!”

What’s a Dad to do?

When I started this project, I decided the only way to do this show was to jump in with both feet. To play a complicated man with a past that he has lied about, with a family that he risks losing... this ain’t no Cat in the Hat. So if I’m going to do it, I have to do it as completely as I can. So I worked hard on the part, becoming Kane, becoming the Dad in our ensemble of actors.

Which means I had to learn to smoke. And it had to look real.

Ever try to light a cigarette? How about with 400 people watching you? While walking? In the dark?

Heather, our assistant stage manager, lined me up with some herbal cigarettes, and I rehearsed. I had to rehearse smoking. I had to get permission from The Epcor Centre to stand on the balcony and rehearse. How to light a cigarette, how to hold it, how to inhale it. (I used clove cigarettes - no nicotine or tobacco - not sure what difference it made...) All the other smokers standing outside were ruining their lungs. Not me. I was playing a part.

In scene 5, I have about 8 seconds to get into place. My cue is when Rejean who plays David, says, “I’ll email you.” Then I walk on with a cigarette in my mouth, light it, inhale it, then blow the smoke out like a seasoned smoker.

It’s a small part of a great show - but it’s a part that I wanted to be like every other part. To be real.

Hopefully, you buy into the show. Hopefully you care for these people who are trying to find their way in the middle of a family crisis. Hopefully you are moved by the decisions and directions they make.

And hopefully you believe that Kane is a real smoker.

- Dave Kelly

True Love Lies runs from September 20 - October 8, 2011