Drawing on Vincent van Gogh’s letters, this intimate portrait utilizes live music and luminous imagery to take audiences into the intense, tender world of a visionary artist. Through layered voices and shifting landscapes, the emotionally powerful production bridges the centuries to speak directly to anyone who has ever felt misunderstood or out of place in an unforgiving world.
Would you mind giving us an insight into what your show/event/performance is?
Van Gogh: Between Worlds isn’t a biography. Vincent is our travelling companion rather than our destination.
Through theatre, music, philosophy and literature, we enter the world of an artist who never stopped asking what it means to see. The audience is invited to cross the threshold between the visible and the invisible, between physics and metaphysics, reality and imagination. Ultimately, the show asks a simple question: how do we remain truly alive in a world that constantly distracts us from wonder and inner personal truth?
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
The company itself is really a small “Eutopia”: artists from different countries, languages and artistic traditions working towards a shared vision.
Everyone brings something essential, and the rehearsal room has become a place where ideas circulate as freely as laughter.
The script was written over several years and then—rather painfully—compressed into a one-hour Fringe version.
Cutting it felt a little like asking Van Gogh to paint with fewer colours. Necessary, perhaps… but not easy. Anyway, sometimes less is really more, and that colours now really scream out loud.
How does it feel coming to (back to) the Fringe?
Equal parts excitement, gratitude and complete madness.
The Fringe asks artists to become creators, producers, marketers, technicians, diplomats and occasional furniture movers. Strangely enough, that’s part of its beauty. It’s one of the last places where artistic risk still feels genuinely possible.
With shows from all over the world at the Fringe, what sets yours apart?
We don’t simply tell Vincent’s story—we invite the audience to experience it with all five senses.
The performance moves between theatre, philosophy, poetry, visual art and live music without treating them as separate disciplines. We are interested in what happens when art stops explaining the world and starts changing the way we look at it.
Our ambition is not to leave audiences with answers, but with sharper eyes.
On that, is there anything in the production or production team’s backgrounds which influences the way the show is performed or told?
Very much so.
Our cast is international, and that diversity naturally shapes the storytelling. As an Italian writer and director living part of the year on Lanzarote and with my assistant director and coproducer Riccardo Avati, who lives across UK, Italy and France, we have become fascinated by borders—not only geographical ones, but those between languages, cultures, disciplines and ways of seeing.
The title Between Worlds isn’t just about Vincent. It’s about all of us.
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
A slightly different gaze.
If someone walks out noticing the light on a wall, listening more carefully to another human being, or suddenly finding words for something they had only ever felt, then we’ve succeeded.
Art doesn’t have to change the world overnight. Sometimes it’s enough if it changes the person who is looking at it.
Your Ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t…?
Anyone curious.
You don’t need to know anything about Van Gogh, philosophy or art history. Curiosity is the only ticket that really matters.
As for who isn’t there… perhaps anyone convinced they already have all the answers. Although, secretly, we’d love to change their minds too.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
“Relax” may be an ambitious word for August at the Fringe.
Whenever possible, I’ll probably escape for a long walk, find a quiet café with a notebook, or disappear into another artist’s show. One of the greatest gifts of Edinburgh is that every street becomes a conversation between completely different imaginations.
The best Fringe plan is to get gloriously lost. That’s usually where the most memorable discoveries begin.
Vincent van Gogh: Beween Worlds will run at Venue 17, Underground at Assembly George Square Studios
Runs: August 6th – August 30th at 15.30pm
Photo credit – Francesco Panasci
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’