(No) Refunds ★★★★

The divinely saucy Tiffany Gold (the quick-witted Katy Murphy, fabulous) hosts the provocative (No) Refunds, and though she arrives resplendent in a platinum wig and an impossible-to-ignore fuchsia-sequined dress, she’s only one of the stars of this unpredictable interactive game show.

The other is you. Or could be.

Each performance, one audience member — either the brave soul who purchased the show’s lone premium ticket, or if no one has opted for pre-selection, someone chosen on the spot — is the “star player”. For an hour, that player will be the focus of everyone else (including the fictional stage manager Alex, a jolly Grant Kennedy Lewis who “deliberately fades into the background”) as they play three games (out of nine possible) that will determine whether or not the price of their premium ticket will be refunded.

But forget not the audience, or, as Gold calls them, the “General Admission Audience”, for it is they — in consultation with Gold — who determine how successful the star player is in every game, each of which is chosen by a fateful spin of the wheel and is designed to test the star player’s likely ability to be a successful artist. (For those concerned about such a potentially fraught situation, it’s made clear that consent is always in play; the star player is given a safe word to employ if they become too uncomfortable to continue. As of this writing, no one has thus far used it.)

No games will be spoiled here, but what can be said is that during the performance attended by this reviewer, the third game presented a challenge that genuinely had the audience on the edge of their seats. That kind of excitement is as rare as a booze-free venue at Edinburgh Fringe, and if that weren’t enough, running underneath the entertaining shenanigans is a surprisingly profound celebration of our shared humanity.

This production was reviewed in preview ahead of the Fringe at The Tank