one4review | On 27, Aug 2026

It feels weird to say that a dutchman who’s been dead for over a century is a hotly trending topic in Scotland this year, and yet that is the case as the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe has more than its fair share of shows about Vincent van Gogh the artist as famed for his struggles with his mental health as his paintings. And while Donna Oblongata’s clown/drag/interactive art class show might well be the weirdest show on the famous impressionist, it might also be one of the best.

The show starts strong with Oblongata’s portrayal of van Gogh as a burnt out Deliveroo rider bursting into the room wielding a large cool bag an accent that can best be described as “from Europe”. Covered in makeup, paint and fluffs of bright red hair, this Vincent is more of a gremlin than your standard genius, but no less compelling. At first surprised to learn everyone is there to see him, the tortured artist soon jumps at the chance to talk about himself and his work eventually bringing people out of the crowd to paint on stage as a chance to experience the joy and horror of creation all for themselves.

This version of Vincent is considerably less reverent than some of the more mawkish portrayals of him that you might see and I think is all the more believable because of it. This Van Gogh is flighty, haunted and, frankly, not a great person to be around, even if he is a lot of fun on the stage. His obsessive and compulsive nature is put more to the fore and you can understand better why he painted than if he was portrayed as a flighty genius.

As with quite a few high-concept clown shows, The Van Gogh Shogh relies heavily, and perhaps a little too heavily, on audience participation, with Vincent often asking the crowd direct questions which they often struggle to answer. I’m never quite sure if this is something that just doesn’t work as well in the UK as over the pond, but it can lead to a bit of dead air in the middle of a show that always feels a bit awkward to me but, on reflection, that’s possibly the point.

The highlight of the show – other than Vincent’s belting out a rendition of Meat Loaf classic I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) – is definitely the audience-made paintings which require some very brave volunteers (if nothing else, the smocks provided won’t fully protect everyone’s clothing from the thick oil paints provided). It could be argued that there wasn’t as much done to protect the feelings of the volunteers from some jabs at their (admittedly very rushed) efforts to mimic Van Gogh’s Starry Night and a couple of the ones I noticed looking a little taken aback by the ribbing Oblongata gave them. The experience ends with the pieces being auctioned off to the audience for real money – which is probably a necessity given the number of supplies the show needs to provide to continue but did feel a little…odd. The audience are essentially guilt tripped into providing funds after already buying a ticket or into a situation where they embarrass the volunteers by refusing to pay. The artists themselves don’t get the money either which is either some kind of advanced meta-commentary on how artists are exploited by capitalism or just simply exploiting them. Oblongata did ask the audience to keep this part of the show secret from other people attending, but the only person who really seems to benefit from that is her, as it might put some people off so I did not feel compelled to do so.

Despite the odd taste the auction left in my mouth, there’s no denying that the show is good and good fun and if I had to go see any show about Vincent Van Gogh this year it would certainly be this one.

4****
Reviewed by Tom

18:25

6th-30th (No Weds)

Front Room at Assembly Rooms