Katy Murphy is back at the Fringe with her highly acclaimed interactive show (No) Refunds. A game show hosted by Tiffany Gold, it promises to be an hour of solid entertainment. We spoke to Murphy to find out more about the show.
Monologues and Musicals: Can you start by telling me a bit about (No) Refunds?
Katy Murphy: (No) Refunds is an interactive gameshow play hosted by the dazzling, delightful, and only occasionally dastardly Tiffany Gold, an old-school American gameshow host and model presenter all-in-one who quite literally depends on your entertainment.
Each show, one premium ticket holder (dubbed the “Star Player” for the evening) competes in three of nine possible games designed to amuse the audience and showcase their talents. Only those best-suited to handle the demands of STARDOM will walk away with a full refund. No two shows are ever the same!
This all began as an idea back in quarantine, March, 2020, when I lost three jobs in one day and was terrified by my sudden and complete financial dependency on friends, family, and the state as an out-of-work artist. With a novel format that combines the best of immersive theater, stand-up, and televised gameshows: (No) Refunds interrogates what it means to create art under capitalism, the direct responsibility of audiences to compensate artists, and what a day’s work as an entertainer really feels like for our Star Players. To quote its host, Tiffany Gold, “could YOU do this every day?”
(No) Refunds comes to the Fringe after successful runs in New York, and at last year’s festival. Are there any differences between British and American audiences? If so, what are they?
Absolutely, and SPOILERS AHEAD (so be warned if you’re trying to avoid knowing too much before you come see it)!
The final twist of (No) Refunds is the reveal that, unfortunately, a refund must come from somewhere. Throughout the show, our Star Player is competing to win back a full refund of their ticket price, but should they succeed, we (the creators of their experience) will have to cut them a check from our account. Ultimately, we give them the choice – given the value of their experience, do they actually want their refund? Or would they prefer to leave the money with us?
As an artist who has worked for a shaky promise of recoupment more often than I’d like to admit, I have struggled to financially value my own work and am yet to “make it” to the point where I don’t need to juggle a few day jobs at any given time to survive. Performing this show has revealed that my discomfort valuing my artistic labor may have more to do with being an American than I realized.
American Star Players FAR more often than not end up giving us back the refund, one Star even paid us an extra $300 in NYC as a TIP! Our American Stars see me and the (No) Refunds team as the “real artists” and thus devalue their own work onstage with us. I think Americans in general struggle to financially value artistic labor when our government and culture place far more value on the fame or status that can be derived from an artistic product.
Our first Scottish Star last year; however, immediately understood that she had WORKED with us that evening. The truth is, without our Star Player the show cannot proceed. She had labored alongside us, and with each game proven her own artistic meddle. She chose to KEEP her refund, because she’d earned it!
What response do you hope that the audience will have to your show?
“Gee, that was so FUN! How can I compensate the artists I love more adequately for their work? Do I value my own artistic labor? Where do I sign up to be tomorrow night’s Star Player???”
Do you have any projects lined up after the Fringe that you would like to share?
This technically starts before Fringe, but I am premiering a new show called FEEL BAD at Theaterlab in NYC at the end of May that will hopefully return next fall or winter. It is an immersive workout experience (I can’t stop making up genres!!! help!!!) inspired by: triggers, Carl Jung, group fitness, names that end in -ee sounds, personal trauma, The Body Keeps the Score, the sound of sweat dripping on a wooden floor, Pure Barre, lululemon, witchcraft, savasana, my dying grandmother, modifications, barking.
You can follow me on Instagram @katymurphyfanaccount or check out katy-murphy.com to be kept in the loop on all things upcoming!
If you could choose one song as the soundtrack for your shows, what would it be and why?
For (No) Refunds, “Get Famous” by the Mountain Goats has become the unofficial soundtrack. It is the objective of Tiffany Gold each night to make the Star Player believe that they “were born for these flashing lights” to quote the opening lyric.
That said, if I were to pick the soundtrack of ALL of my shows, it would be the never-ending whir of a Shepard Tone because I am insane.
(No) Refunds will be performed at Gilded Balloon Patter House – The Penny from 5-31 August (not 18) as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Ellen Leslie