Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Encores for fringe hits: The Attic Collective’s AND HER CHILDREN, Katy Murphy’s (NO) REFUNDS, and Awkward Productions’ DIANA

• By drediman
• February 1, 2026
• No Comments

This January and February, New York has been playing host — thanks primarily to SoHo Playhouse’s International Fringe Encore Series — to a number of return engagements of shows that made splashes at various international fringe theater festivals last year. Read on for my thoughts on three such eclectic offerings that have received the “encore” treatment.

DIANA: THE UNTOLD AND UNTRUE STORY
Awkward Productions at SoHo Playhouse

One of the most rapturously received of these encore runs was Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story (RECOMMENDED) at SoHo Playhouse. Created by Awkward productions — the same folks behind the similarly unhinged Gwyneth Goes Skiing — the aptly titled parody takes audiences on a wildly revisionist journey through what could have been Princess Diana’s life, exploding the icon’s mythology to distorted proportions (e.g., taking center stage are Lady Di’s impossibly bloated rivalries with Camilla and the Queen). Told from the posthumous perspective of Diana in heaven, the campy, strangely celebratory show basks in the same queer-forward, “Free Britney”-like sensibility that has made Titanique such a runaway hit (if you haven’t already heard, that kooky little Celine Dion jukebox musical that could is slated for a Broadway outing this spring). Headlined by a deliciously droll, air-headed performance by Linus Karp in the title role, the production features a cornucopia of drag, puppetry, audience participation, and loopy multimedia bits. The show even has an homage to the ill-fated, destined-to-be-camp-classic Diana: The Musical that the gays in the sold out audience (which was most of us) absolutely ate up. Despite some awkward and I suspect purposefully sloppy transitions — which only contribute to the scrappy hilarity of it all — Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story has been an unabashed crowd-pleaser both here and at the Edinburgh Fringe. It’s the kind of show that absolutely knows its target audience, and has thrived as a result.

(NO) REFUNDS
Theaterlab

After selling out previous runs and garnering good word of mouth at the Edinburgh Fringe, Katy Murphy’s (No) Refunds (RECOMMENDED) returned to Theaterlab this January for a welcome encore engagement. Advertised as an interactive game show in which one premium ticket holder — who is known as the “Star Player” of the show — competes in three games (picked each night by the audience) that gives them the chance to win back the price of their premium ticket. Such a setup ensures that no two shows are ever alike, which encourages repeat visits to the unique experience (the Star Player at the performance I attended had seen the show a whopping seven times before he mustered the courage to take the spotlight). At the center of it all is Tiffany Gold — creator Katy Murphy’s alter ego for (most of) the evening — the blonde game show hostess who seemingly exudes star power, confidence, and glamor. Aided by her stage manager (deftly played by Grant Kennedy Lewis, in a turn that deliberately faded into the background). Throughout, Murphy’s performance was spot on, a compelling combination of natural charm and quick-witted presence of mind. As staged by director Kelsey Robins, the production deftly strikes an ideal balance between actual game show and therapy session (by way of the candid, psychologically probing challenges that the evening’s Star Player must face), ultimately yielding into a meditation on the real struggles of being an artist, particularly in a society that isn’t especially geared towards supporting their work. In short, I went into (No) Refunds expecting an interactive game show, plain and simple, but walked out, appreciatively, with something far more substantial to chew on.

AND HER CHILDREN
The Attic Collective at SoHo Playhouse

Currently running at SoHo Playhouse as part of its International Fringe Encore Series is The Attic Collective’s production of And Her Children (RECOMMENDED), which found award-winning success out west at last year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. Essentially, Hailey McAfee and Rosie Glen-Lambert’s play is an uncanny and hard-hitting re-envisioning of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children as a modern day psychodrama — Anna Fierling is now an NRA spokeswoman — bringing contemporary specificity to Brecht’s well-worn tale of moral compromise vis-à-vis survival and profiteering from violence. In this regard, the adaptation makes for a fascinating companion piece to Robert Icke’s heartrending take on Oedipus currently running on Broadway, which does precisely the same thing with Sophocles’ widely-known tragedy. Taking its cue from Dana Loesch’s public reaction to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, And her Children explores America’s chronic gun violence problem via the perspective of those who are monetarily compensated to defend the right to bear arms. As staged by director Glen-Lambert, the play simultaneously takes place in Feirling’s knotted psyche, as well as at a post-shooting town hall event. Theatrically speaking, the approach is highly effective in juxtaposing Feirling’s steely public persona and less convinced internal dialogue. As Feirling, McAfee gives a staunch performance, bringing nuance and depth — in addition to unsettling moral ambiguity — to her characterization of a complicated woman at the intersection of being both mother and breadwinner.