Interview: Donna Oblongata on The Van Gogh Shogh (Edinburgh Fringe)

Photo: Daniel Callahan

The Van Gogh Shogh - an interactive solo show featuring award-winning Philadelphia-based performer Donna Oblongata and directed by Francesca Montanile Lyons - sees the infamous painter, complete with bandaged ear, fur-lined cap and green overcoat à la Van Gogh's 'Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear', recast as a gig-economy delivery rider who happens upon a modern-day immersive exhibition dedicated to their own work.

With audience members having the chance to paint their own version of Starry Night under Van Gogh's tutelage live on stage as part of a chaotic sip and paint, alongside a bout of karaoke and other moments of interaction, the show embraces audience participation at every turn while also offering some striking commentary on the value placed on both art and artists.

Ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe run, we caught up with the show's writer and performer, Donna Oblongata, to talk about how the Immersive Van Gogh Experience inspired the show, why Van Gogh was likely a massive asshole, and the quality of artwork produced by the audience during the show.

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Immersive Rumours: Hi Donna! Thanks for speaking with us today. Do you mind introducing yourself and telling us a bit about The Van Gogh Shogh for those who are unfamiliar?

Donna Oblongata: My name is Donna Oblongata, and I am the writer and performer of The Van Gogh Shogh. It’s a solo clown show that’s super immersive, super interactive, and a pretty wild ride. It was inspired by the Immersive Van Gogh Experience and this question of what he would think if he walked into that today and what the real Immersive Van Gogh Experience would be.

I started kicking around that idea, and I thought it was very funny as an artist struggling to make a living in the same way Van Gogh struggled to make a living. I don't like to give away too many spoilers, but I always like to say it's a little bit sip and paint, a little bit karaoke night, and a little bit Sotheby's. 

Immersive Rumours: How do you find people respond to being pulled into interacting with Van Gogh during the shogh? Do you find that people are very up for it, or does it take a bit of convincing?

Donna Obloganta: It very much depends on the crowd. I've toured the show around most of the US, and I came over to London and Amsterdam earlier this year with it. Every place is really different. 

There are some towns where just everyone wants to jump up on stage and participate, and then there are some places where it’s a little bit like, ‘No really, if nobody volunteers, there's no show.' I've never had a show where I couldn't get people to volunteer. It's just that sometimes it's a little bit more of a negotiation.

I really believe - and this is partly coming from my own experience as an audience member at shows, especially clown shows - that anything that has active participation on the part of the audience is always opt-in. I will never drag you up on stage. I will never say, ‘Get up and do a dance or something.'

Everything is opt-in, which is great, because when I say, ‘Who wants to come up and paint?’ or ‘Who wants to do this?’, they've consented to being there and to being a part of it, even if it’s not quite what they expected.

Photo: Josh Yoder

Immersive Rumours: You mentioned the sip and paint element of the shogh... Where on the scale of gallery-worthy masterpiece to children’s finger painting does the work audience members create end up being?

Donna Oblongata: I’ve seen it all. I’ve been doing shows this past week, and in just the last few days, I’ve had someone in the audience say, ‘That’s better than the original’, where the person clearly really cared and probably had some painting experience and education, through to one of the students just picking up a tub of yellow paint and throwing in on the canvas.

She looked at me and said, ‘Can I do this?’. As the performer, I was like, ‘Oh my god, you’re going to make a mess, and I’m going to get in trouble with the venue. This is my nightmare’. But as the character, I had to be like, ‘Go for it. Let’s do it’. It was just a big splodge of yellow in the middle of the canvas.

If you were looking for an average, it’s closer to kindergarten. To be fair to the painters, what they’re able to accomplish with what they’re given is remarkable. They’re given the shitty kind of washable paint that you’d give a five-year-old; they’re given four colors and maybe 20 minutes to paint. I think it’s fair to say that they’re not really set up for success…

Photo: Josh Yoder

Immersive Rumours: How would you describe the version of Van Gogh you play in the shogh?

Donna Oblongata: I’d love an art historian's take on this, but I'm going to say it's realistic, which, of course, is ridiculous because nobody looks less like Van Gogh than me as I'm wearing this bright orange leprechaun-style beard and a ridiculous costume, but when I conceived of the show, I asked myself, ‘If he were alive today, what would he be doing?’ and the answer is he'd be a food courier.

If you look at his biography and his letters, it’s clear that he was insane. Every friend he had was really just a frenemy. All of his relationships were super complicated and hard on the people he loved. He was probably just really annoying and mean and shitty, and that’s okay. He probably looked bad and smelled gross, and people thought he was a creep. That’s real. It’s not beautiful to think about it like that, but as a clown it’s really fun to play.

Immersive Rumours: Looking back over your time performing The Van Gogh Shogh, what has been the biggest challenge, and how much has the production changed?

Donna Oblongata: To me, the show has changed massively, but the truth is that if you were to look at the script or the technical cues, it’s essentially the same. When I started the show, this was by far the most improv I’ve ever had in a show, and I’m not an improv person. It took a while for me to get really comfortable with that, and I had to call friends who are improv artists and really pick their brains and get their advice.

I’d say that I've only really gotten comfortable with the improv in the last six months or so of doing the show. Now I feel like the show has really hit its stride. The show has always been fun, but it’s reached a new level of fun that it never has before, which is crazy.

I used to dread doing the show. It really stressed me out, but I’ve found ways of being meaner to the audience and fucking with them more, but in a way that’s quite safe and really fun for both them and me.

Photo: Josh Yoder

Immersive Rumours: There’s a famous episode of Doctor Who where Van Gogh is taken through time to the Musée d'Orsay to see how his art is regarded nowadays, and he starts crying when Bill Nighy describes him as ‘the greatest artist who ever lived’. If he were instead taken to Assembly Rooms circa August 2026 and saw The Van Gogh Shogh, what do you think his reaction would be?

Donna Oblongata: That is a really good question, because I made the show thinking, ‘What would he think if he saw the Immersive Van Gogh Experience?' and I can answer that, but the question of what he would think if he saw this… 

He would probably think I'm an asshole. I think he would be offended. He took himself and his work quite seriously, and that is something I'm definitely not doing. 

I'm definitely taking the piss, but if I could sit down and have a beer with him and explain that I'm trying to get people to understand how difficult his life was and how he struggled, maybe he'd not be so upset.

Immersive Rumours: The Van Gogh Shogh had a brief run at Edinburgh Fringe last year. What made you decide to attend the festival for the first time, and what advice would you give to artists thinking about going?

Donna Oblongata: As everyone always says, coming over and doing the Fringe is so expensive, so I’d always wanted to come, but I’d never been able to go. I received a research grant last year, so I was able to attend as part of that research, but by the time the grant came through, it was too late to apply to do a full run, so I came over and did the show six times in an actual painting studio in Canonmills. It was a mile down the hill, and the space held about fifteen people. To me, I always say it didn’t count, but technically I did perform last year.

The advice people give to artists who want to come to the Fringe for the first time is always ‘Just come as an audience member first to get the lay of the land’. I can totally understand feeling like that’s crazy, as it’s such an investment just to attend as an audience member, but it makes so much sense because you can’t possibly conceive of how insane it is until you’re actually there.

Photo: Josh Yoder

Immersive Rumours: Besides performing The Van Gogh Shogh for Edinburgh audiences, what are you most looking forward to at the festival?

Donna Oblongata: I'm so excited to be surrounded by the energy of the Fringe again. You walk out the door, and it's just everywhere. There are artists everywhere, and there's creative work everywhere, and there's audiences everywhere, and getting to see such a diversity of work from all over the world is so rare. You can't compare it to anything else. It's so much fun.

Guide: Edinburgh Fringe's Best Immersive and Interactive Shows (2026)

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The Van Gogh Shogh runs from 6th to 30th August (excluding 12th, 19th, 26th) at Front Room at Assembly Rooms (Venue 20) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Immersive Rumours will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. See our pre-festival coverage here.