3.5 out of 5 stars

Rosie Glen-Lambert and Hailey McAfee’s “and her Children” tackles a number of tough topics: gun ownership, school shootings, homophobia and, most critically, how a mother can simultaneously support and fail her children. Adapted from Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and her Children,” it can be a deftly engaging play, though it loses points for an unnecessary secondary character – a violinist/beggar woman who serves as a kind of framing device – and a slight tendency to overamplify its themes and messaging. Ultimately, the story is really all about the mother’s selfishness – and McAfee plays the part with a remarkably calculated coolness. Brava! — Charles Passy

Presented by the Attic Collective at the SoHo Playhouse as part of the International Encore Fringe Series, through Feb. 13; sohoplayhouse.com. (Review date: Jan. 28, 2026)