Playing at Underbelly Cowgate in the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, THE MONKEYPOX GOSPEL is Ngofeen Mputubwele's audio-driven docu-play about his time reporting on the mpox outbreak in summer 2022.
When Ngofeen gets his first big assignment at The New Yorker, on the global "monkeypox" outbreak, it seems perfect for him: his family is from the Democratic Republic of Congo (the virus’s origin), and infections are spreading within New York’s queer community through sexual contact, including in his own social circle. With two million people preparing to attend NYC Pride in a few weeks, getting the word out is critical.
But the subject terrifies Ngofeen. He only recently left the evangelical church and broke his vow of lifelong celibacy (i.e. “you can be gay if you don’t act on it”). If he writes this piece, he’s branding himself as a heretic. And though he loves queer theory and his queer family, he’s not sure if the new life he’s escaped to is the right one for him.
Ngofeen sees two options: write the article and burn his bridges with family and friends, or stay silent and watch his queer friends get sick. He begins dreaming about a third way. An honest article that shares vital information about the virus, exposes the government’s unpreparedness, connects American and Congolese health, and, in code, makes a theological plea to his African and Evangelical family – all in The New Yorker house style.
Combining behind-the-scenes reporting, real audio interviews, flights of fantasy, and nerdy tangents, the show testifies to the truth about viruses – they reveal the crises we ignore, the ones waiting to be faced.
written by Ngofeen Mputubwele
directed by Alex Hare
produced by Dom Stephens and Alex Hare
set designer Forest Entsminger