Edinburgh Fringe 2026
The Bob Ross Effect
Sarah-Louise Young / Suzanna Rosenthal Productions
Genre: New Writing, Painting, Solo Show
Venue: Piccolo Tent at Assembly George Square Gardens
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Artist and animal-lover and Bob Ross brought art into millions of living rooms with TV phenomenon The Joy of Painting. The Bob Ross Effect invites the audience to celebrate this iconic man and explore their own creativity.
Sarah-Louise Young (An Evening Without Kate Bush) celebrates his enduring impact in this new interactive show about art, love and grief in a shared adventure, featuring live art, storytelling, comedy and original songs.
Review
We arrive at the Piccolo tent in George Square Gardens – a delightful, quirky space, made more so by being handed a pot of crayons even as we’re still juggling our phones to show the ticket code. Audience participation is clearly going to be part of this show: up the steps, phone stowed, and there’s a clipboard and paper waiting to join the crayons.
In The Bob Ross Effect, ‘effect’ is the operative word. It isn’t a tribute show or a biopic of the man who spent over a decade teaching America, and much of the world, to paint in 381 half-hour episodes on The Joy of Painting. Instead, it’s a route into something more personal: an exploration of the healing properties of art, a celebration of two people close to Sarah-Louise Young, who developed and performs the show.
Directed by Ali James, the show creates spaces on the stage for each thread of the story as Young weaves together several narrative threads and mediums, and while the result is occasionally a touch fragmented, she draws the pieces together well, moving fluidly between storytelling, original songs (composed with Jordan Paul Clarke), video, live drawing and character work. Using a video camera, she recreates the feel of a television studio as she mimics Ross at work, the same camera later useful for sharing glimpses of the audience’s own efforts. And we do all join in – a few minutes with clipboard and crayons produces work that surprises each creator as much as those around them.
Young connects with the audience instantly; within minutes we’re all in an informal art class, strangers smiling and apologetically sharing their scribbles with their neighbours. Her approach throughout is warm and embracing, whether she’s recounting stories of her brother, of her late friend Lynn Ruth Miller, or of Ross himself. Both of the former shared his love of painting, and the peace it brought them, and we’re given real glimpses into their lives alongside his. When Young does step into Ross’s persona, complete with lifelike beard and afro wig, she captures beautifully the gentle pace and warmth of his soft, southern voice.
Lively and reflective by turns, she holds the audience throughout – witty, entertaining, full of energy and talent, the drawing element a particular joy. It rained the day I went, which only added to the sense of being held inside one big, warm hug.
Heartwarming, joyous, funny and a little heartbreaking, you will leave the tent smiling – whether you arrived knowing nothing about Bob Ross and leave wanting to have a go yourself, or arrived a devotee and leave itching to rewatch every episode, paintbrush in hand.
