Spin the wheel, grab a prop, tell a story. In this tilt-a-whirl, unrelenting dash through the life of Vincent Van Gogh a terrible spinning wheel controls the manic, blissful artist through a disorienting, chaotic journey navigating the cruel randomness of creation, indeed of life.
Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh, by experimental US playwright Justin Maxwell, will have its UK premier at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The play takes a new, painterly, approach to understanding the inner world and torment of a man who felt and expressed the extremes of human experience. Loosely based on his letters to his brother, Theo, Exhausted Paint explores Van Gogh’s desperate struggle to connect; to mean something in a world that devalues art and artists.
Maxwell says: “I wanted to look at what happens when you are constantly reaching for the brass ring and miss every time, when you constantly try but always fail. Van Gogh’s answer seems to have been to fall in love with the art and to just keep on trying.”
Wielding words as Van Gogh brandished his paint brush, Maxwell creates a collage of sounds, sights, images, and emotions through heightened language that challenges and entrances the audience. A wheel of artifacts dominates the stage. Van Gogh spins the wheel to determine which episode of his life will be performed next, leaving the order entirely to chance. Every performance is different.
Each episode in Maxwell’s script unlocks a different theme, idea, and/or issue of Van Gogh’s life. As Maxwell states: “It all adds up to an exploration of a man who is meticulous about his craft and uncompromising about what he can achieve as an artist, who refuses to simply paint work that will sell and rails against the world for not buying the art that he paints.”
Tender, vehement, funny and heart-breaking, Exhausted Paint is a poignant look at a man whose life story was so much more than the infamous severed ear. The random sequence of events mirrors Vincent’s unpredictable and disordered life, so breathtakingly relived in this play.
Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh is produced and directed by award-winning director, and Edinburgh Fringe stalwart, Penny Cole whose company, Flying Solo! Presents specialises in fostering new work by US artists on the international stage.
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Notes for editors
- Interviews available – just get in touch.
Listings Details
- Venue: theSpace@Surgeons’ Hall – Haldane Theatre
- Time: 14:55
- Dates: Aug 4, 5, 7-9, 11,12, 14-16, 18-23. Previews Aug 1, 2.
- Duration: 55 minutes
- Ticket prices: Previews £5. Full price £10, concessions £8.
- Tickets: https://www.thespaceuk.com
Cast and creatives
- Company: Flying Solo! Presents
- Performer: Drew Stroud
- Director: Penny Cole
- Playwright: Justin Maxwell
- Producer: Penny Cole
- Stage manager and lighting: Veronia Legler
About the creative team
Drew Stroud holds his MFA from the University of New Orleans. His training is focused and built on improvisational theatre and Meisner with particular focus on being present and accepting the reality of the world. NOLA credits: Born with Teeth, Exhausted Paint, Fully Committed, Broken Codes, The Cuck. Regional credits: Newsies, The Lion in Winter. Others: The Last Five Years, Barefoot in the Park, Richard III, Midsummer Night’s Dream. Drew is also a founding member of Illinois based Capital City Improv. Love to Carly.
Justin Maxwell is an accomplished playwright, author of multiple unique plays. He is a professor teaching playwriting in the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans. His is an exciting voice in the American Theatre.
Veronia Legler is the Production Stage Manager for the North Glen Youth Theatre in North Glen, Colorado. She is the quintessential stage manager, calm, forward thinking, and always upbeat.
Penny Cole is a lifelong theatre maker, educator, and award-winning director, with 20 years of experience in the development of new work. In 2018, she founded Flying Solo! Presents with the expressed purpose of fostering new work by American artists on the international stage. In addition to producing and developing close to thirty productions for Flying Solo! Preesents, she has directed many productions across the US. Favorites include, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, The Tempest, The Cradle Will Rock, Amadeus, Hamlet and The Other Place.
About Flying Solo! Presents
Since the premiere season in Edinburgh in 2019, Flying Solo! Presents has supported more than 45 artists in 27 productions in Edinburgh, Denver, and New York City. Productions, live and online, include four concerts by American based musicians, a dance production, multiple solo shows, new musicals, as well as audio plays in collaboration with This is Not a Theatre Company.
Flying Solo! Presents has steadily gained in recognition with a standard of quality work presented with integrity. The show produced in 2024, Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words played to sold out houses in Denver, New York City and Edinburgh, garnering multiple five and four star reviews. Follies: A Showcase of Bits and Bobs makes it’s return to Edinburgh in 2025, a showcase of emerging American artists that is always fun and revelatory.
For media information contact Matthew Shelley at SFPR on 07786 704299 or at Matthew@ScottishfestivalsPR.org.