As Bob Ross himself said, “if you want sad things, watch the news.” If you want a happy thing, try this show. Rating
Excellent!
American painting instructor Bob Ross is described as “the granddaddy of ASMR” by writer and performer Sarah-Louise Young, and it’s true that one small study has shown watching his now 43-year-old painting show reduces stress among viewers, with his soothing voice and reassuring catchphrase that “there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” “You can do anything,” soothes Ross over and over in his iconic TV series. This is certainly true of Young, who deftly weaves in stories of her friend Lynne-Ruth, who took up burlesque performing and painting at age 70, and Young’s brother the painter, whose addiction recovery helped Young develop many of the techniques she uses during the show. “Take a walk with a line,” she quotes her brother saying when she got stuck in her first experience painting, “see where it takes you.”
This is one of the things she asks the audience to try with our provided clipboards and crayons – drawing a line, handing it to a nearby stranger and seeing how they finish the drawing. Using a live mobile phone camera, Young manages to conjure the minimalist atmosphere of Ross’s show on a large screen, with its simple black backdrop dominated by a white canvas awaiting a live-painted nature scene, blue shirt open perhaps one button too many, and Ross’s instantly recognisable perm and beard. Young also wanders through the audience at intervals to show live on the big screen what we’re drawing based on her prompts: happy little trees, abstract line shapes, our own faces drawn without looking at the paper.
A riotously colourful jacket brings in the character of Lynne-Ruth, in whose guise Young does a deliciously teasing fan dance as an anthropomorphised version of a paint-based-innuendo-cracking Fanny, Bob Ross’s trusty fan brush, creator of many happy little trees. Much of the performance is delivered through songs written by Young and musical director Paul Jordan Clarke. Young struggles a bit to put the requisite oomph behind some of the more powerful notes, but as she points out, if Lynne-Ruth was brave enough to take up singing at 70 while acknowledging her utter lack of range, why shouldn’t Young give it a go? Andrew Pugsley’s animation adds depth and verve, helping weave the strands of Young’s personal stories in with broader Bob Ross life wisdom.
The show stays true to Bob Ross’s gentle and encouraging demeanour in the TV series, though the soothing sound of brush on canvas is also cut through with poignancy: “Take your broken heart and turn it into art,” as Lynne-Ruth used to say. Young has certainly done that, especially through a surprising twist of the palette knife near the end. All in all, a charming, rather soothing and uplifting hour – an oasis of calm in a manic Fringe.
Written and Performed by Sarah-Louise Young
Directed by Ali James Music Composed by Paul Jordan Clarke
Songs written by Sarah-Louise Young and Paul Jordan Clarke
Animation by Andrew Pugsley
The Bob Ross Effect plays at the Assembly Rooms as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until Monday 31 August
