Review: The Van Gogh Shogh by Donna Oblongata (Edinburgh Fringe)
- Immersive Rumours
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Renowned painter Van Gogh stumbles into an immersive experience of his artwork in this interactive clown show from Donna Oblongata.
Photo: Josh Yoder
As a website that covers immersive work, we've attended more than our fair share of London's projection-based experiences in recent years. Whether they've depicted the reign of Cleopatra or Tutankhamun, the sinking of the Titanic or the destruction of Pompeii, the current wave of immersive exhibitions can largely be traced back to the numerous immersive Van Gogh experiences that sprang up around the globe in the mid 2010's and opened the door for this kind of experience to become mainstream.
Regardless of whether you see them as a positive or negative for the wider immersive industry (there are arguments on both sides), their huge success has undoubtedly led to at least one good thing: inspiring Donna Oblongata to create the wonderfully chaotic interactive clown show, The Van Gogh Shogh, which runs at Assembly @ St Andrew Square until 30th August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Photo: Josh Yoder
The show's tranquil pre-show experience, complete with classical music playing over the speakers and one of Van Gogh's pieces being projected onto the back wall of the venue, is quickly interrupted by the arrival of a dishevelled, blood-and-paint-soaked gig-working Van Gogh, who pulls a bag of food from an Uber Eats delivery bag and searches the space for their customer.
While looking around the space, Van Gogh notices their work is being projected onto the wall, and their face lights up, realising that at long last, they're going to get the recognition they deserve. Of course, that smile slips away as they realise that despite now being famous around the world, and having a room full of paying audience members there to see their work, they're not getting a penny from it and are still as broke as they ever were.
What Van Gogh lacks in funds, though, is made up for with enthusiasm, as they happily take the audience through a whistle-stop tour of their work. There's a wonderfully deranged monologue about the emotional state of each potato in 'Still Life with Potatoes', a communal exercise in letter-writing, as Van Gogh crowdsources suggestions to send to their wealthy art-dealing brother begging for paint, and a rousing karaoke rendition of Meat Loaf's I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)..
Photo: Josh Yoder
The show's centrepiece, in which four audience members are invited on-stage to paint their own version of Starry Night under Van Gogh's tutelage, sees the master painter guide participants through the process of creating such an iconic piece of work and allows Van Gogh the opportunity to wax lyrical about the personalities of each colour (yellow obviously has a pet dog, blue's lucky number is three, etc.) while those on-stage frantically paint their magnum opuses.
Throughout the show, Oblongata proves to be a commanding presence, bouncing between antagonistic remarks, off-handed commentary on their lot in life and depressing references to Van Gogh's real-life indiscretions with self-deprecating humour.
Underlying the whole experience is a central message exploring the ever-increasing commercialisation of art, the financial struggles of being an artist, and how those who create work are often undervalued by society at large. By the show's conclusion, audience members not only come away with a deeper understanding of just how hard it is to make a living in the arts, but, if they're lucky, a new piece of art to hang on their wall too.
★★★★
The Van Gogh Shogh runs until 30th August (excluding 12th, 19th, 26th) at Front Room at Assembly @ St Andrew Square (Venue 172) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com
See all of our Edinburgh Fringe coverage here.
