I was told not to make eye contact with Tom Cruise

I was told not to make eye contact with Tom Cruise is the title of an article published in The Guardian in 2023, in which Jill Goldston reflects on her 60-year career as an extra. She dined with David Bowie, was invited to the Oscars, and even holds a Guinness World Record for ‘the most appearances by an extra’ – no fewer than 1,951 times. She was everywhere. And yet nowhere.

Elena Carvajal takes this paradox as her starting point. In her eponymous performance, she turns the extra into the main character. She invites the audience to shift their gaze towards what lies in the margins. Towards what was always there, but never meant to be seen.

Because being present is not the same as being visible. Carvajal explores that boundary: the bodies waiting in the background, the gestures that disappear into the scenery, the presence that ceases to exist the moment no one is looking. Or does it? From that seemingly quiet place, she poses an uncomfortable question with a political dimension: who decides who takes centre stage? And what does that say about how we look and about whom we overlook?