Getting one’s foot in the door as an actor has never been easy. But with the numerous ways prospective actors partake in auditions and the ‘skills’ that they ‘have to’ acquire for specific roles, this preliminary stage is a very stressful business… Written by Rebecca Rayne and directed by Jennifer Brooke, Break A Leg Babe takes a wry look at what it’s like for anyone who ISN’T in the top 1% of actors who don’t have to chase roles.

Playing the titular ACTRESS, Rayne leans into the absurdist elements of ‘the actor’s life’ and the desperate lengths one may be prepared to go through to nail that life-changing audition. As well as being absurdist at times, the play isn’t afraid to explore dark comedic themes.

In the case of ACTRESS’s rival/’arch nemesis’, it is the precocious Casper – a baby who has already acquired the power of speech – who could be said to be a cross between Stewie Griffin from Family Guy and the possessed doll Chucky. His oneupmanship gets under her skin more than hardships she has had to deal with lately.

Leanne Pettit plays the assortment of characters in ACTRESS’s life, who all invariably let her down in one capacity or other. There’s the boyfriend (soon to be ex-…) who was never the greatest catch to begin with. Then there is her agent who ‘lets her go’ after she’s recovered from an infectious skin disease. And then there’s the on-set producer who is ‘abrupt’. Certainly there isn’t a lot of love and support from ACTRESS’s nearest and dearest…

As well as touching on ‘adversity’, from without and within, Rayne – through the use of humour – opens up some potentially sensitive topics. These include questions that everyone has asked since the days of COVID: if you’re actor, do you cease to be ‘an actor’ if you haven’t performed in anything in ages? Are you a well-rounded human being (i.e., do you have interests that have nothing to do with securing your next acting gig)? And are you an actor (who does other stuff on the side) so you can pursue your ‘chosen vocation’ or is your ‘day job’ your ‘real job’ and acting is a luxury you get to do from time to time?

Through the ‘ups and downs’ of ACTRESS’s life, these subjects are obliquely broached, though as the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions…”

© Michael Davis 2024

Break A Leg Babe ran at the Museum of Comedy on the 8th, 10th and 14th August as part of the Camden Fringe Festival