[ noun ] incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect <noun.act> his business with the cane was hilarious
Byplay \By"play\, n. Action carried on aside, and commonly in dumb show, while the main action proceeds.
In no area has the Bush administration's preoccupation with the public-relations aspects of arms-control policy been more clearly in evidence than in last week's U.S.-Soviet byplay at the United Nations concerning chemical weapons.
There also are nice bits of byplay in "Class" between the lovely vice principal and the new teacher, as when he agrees to help out in the flu-ravaged Shakespeare competition.