The agent

About this book

The agent by Stephen Marlowe is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It follows struggling stage performers who are recruited by a strange theatrical agent and unexpectedly carried to Mars, where their Earth-style entertainment becomes a cultural revelation for a planet that has never known show business.

The narrator, Mike Hennesy, a hungry crooner, tags along with aging actress Vera to a remote “agency” run by Quontas Quoron and his brother Meldon. Along with a roomful of has-beens, they’re hired without auditions, fed odd “food” cubes, and then jolted by thunder and weightlessness as the office reveals itself to be a spaceship. They land on Mars, whose hardworking inhabitants lack any form of entertainment, and the troupe instantly becomes a sensation. While Mike hums standards until he learns the language, the group stages pantomimes like Romeo and Juliet; even Vera captivates audiences starved for glamour. A ventriloquist founds a performers’ union that limits new arrivals, preserving their novelty and livelihoods. As they tour the canal-linked cities, Vera launches a beauticians’ movement, rumors swirl that the dazzling secretary is a robot, and Mike and Vera marry—thriving as marquee names in a world newly awakened to art and amusement.