Mary decides to spice up her life and join Alfredo Leache's Background Artistes Agency. But spending just a short time in the office, Mary learns that being a walk-on artiste isn't all glamour. She faces the eccentric, elderly couple Walter and Enid, who pepper their speech with malapropisms, but later reveal their true surprising identity; secretary Jessica, who ceaselessly acts out her ambition to be an air hostess; and Alfred, the tireless boss who works hard for his actors against the odds. Full of playful and lively repartee, this humorous play can performed by itself or in a double bill with its sequel, On Location.
Written well before Ricky Gervais's Extras, this charming comedy and its sister play, On Location, tap into the rich vein of life as an film extra and is based on the author's interview and subsequent career in the business during the late 1990s.