Dovecot
Four stars
Jack Ellis was a teenage schoolboy when he first stumbled on the masterpieces of Vincent Van Gogh. This came after he was banished to the library by his art teacher after talking too much in class. This happy accident has stayed with Ellis for life, to the extent that he now lives in Arles, the South of France haven where in 1888 the Dutch master attempted to gather together like minds to form a brotherhood of artists. Only Paul Gauguin, alas, turned up to the party. As these two very different but equally driven artistic personalities spent the next nine weeks making work, this was where the fun began.
Ellis relates his very personal history of Van Gogh and Gauguin’s time in Arles in a script and production concocted with Edinburgh Fringe veteran John Retallack. As the audience lend their ears, Ellis relates the story in a conversational style that sees him slip in and out of character as both artists.
Crucial to the production is designer Rachel Marston’s stage set built out of eighteen meticulously realised reproductions of both men’s work created in Arles. Beginning with the pictures turned away from the audience, as each is revealed to illustrate key moments of Ellis’ story, it becomes a John Berger style show-and-tell of parallel lives and creative genius.
Such is the quality of Marston’s work to the untrained eye at least that if stage design work ever dries up, she could probably work up a pretty lucrative side hustle as an international art forger.
In terms of other artistry on show, given Ellis and Retallack’s lifelong friendship, one is tempted to presume the pair have developed their own creative brotherhood. The difference here is that they both lived to tell a mix of their own tales alongside dramatic homages such as the one presented here. More than mere play, Ellis and Retallack’s construction transforms art history into drama with evocative fanboy devotion that carries over to the audience all the way from Arles to starry nights beyond.
Until Aug 31.
The Herald, August 18, 2026
ends
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