Denise Van Outen - Playwright Pulls Smirnoff-Sponsored Addiction Play

Playwright TRICIA WALSH-SMITH has cancelled a charity performance of her play ADDICTIONS, about drug and alcohol abuse - after finding out it was being sponsored by Smirnoff vodka. The benefit was to star British actress DENISE VAN OUTEN and was due to take place at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles earlier this week (begs29JAN07). But Walsh-Smith pulled the plug on the performance after discovering the play was to be backed by the alcohol company. She says, "I was absolutely stunned. I couldn't believe it. The idea of having Smirnoff sponsoring this play, which is about addiction - what were they thinking? "If we had gone ahead, I would have been looked at as a total hypocrite."