Writers: Pascal Orzabal, Omar Aga and Ruby Barry
Director: Quinn Goodliffe
It is unlikely, though not impossible, that an actor could go instantly from a low-budget fringe theatre work to a lead in an HBO TV series. That is the inciting premise for SuperAgent, a backstage comedy set in the dressing room of a cast who are coming to terms with the lead’s meteoric rise – and the news that the agent who has helped him succeed will be in the audience.
The comedy, written by Pascal Orzabal with fellow castmates Omar Aga and Ruby Barry credited as co-writers, focuses on the other four members of the cast who must decide what to do when they find the play’s lead (and future HBO star), Tom Boxall’s James, dead outside the theatre. If they call the police straight away, the performance will have to be cancelled, and their chance to be seen by the SuperAgent will vanish. So instead, they decide to focus on working out who will take over James’s role.
The resulting clashes satirise much about the state of modern theatre and acting, with each remaining cast member exhibiting traits that both epitomise and comment on various neuroses and obsessions that contemporary actors must face. From Aleksei Toshov’s Bo being insecure because he is the only cast member who wasn’t part of the same drama school gang as the others, to Omar Aga’s Jad and his furious disdain for the multi-roling the production requires of him, it feels like each archetype the play presents us with is both easily understood and recognisable.
Further tensions derive from Orzabal’s character of Todd apparently being the producer and financier of the show. The influence and impact of money – or the lack thereof when it comes to not paying fringe actors – is touched upon lightly, as is the source of Todd’s wealth (he is the nepo baby child of two TV presenters, who want him to give up acting and move into their more lucrative world). Orzabal’s clashes with Jad – and, well, Jad’s clashes with everybody – further enliven a fun script.
The downside of dispatching Boxall’s character at the top of the play is that the shadow of a theatrically-themed murder mystery hangs over SuperAgent. The thought that one of the remaining cast might have done him in looms large over proceedings, despite that plot option never being considered by the characters themselves. James’s fate is resolved in the play’s climactic moments, albeit in a manner whose multiple plot holes emphasise that this strand was a mere device to get the other characters to clash with each other.
Shortcomings of the treatment of Boxall’s character aside, SuperAgent is an entertaining look at the neuroses surrounding actors on the fringe who dream of being that rare unicorn who can pivot into something greater. Some of its more satirical barbs may rely a little too much on knowing, and even being a part of, the industry being mocked, so whether it has an appeal beyond other fringe theatre workers is up for debate. But for those who recognise the world it inhabits, it’s an entertaining and amusing production.
Runs until 15 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
