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Stolen Van Gogh at the Fringe? No, Just Another PR Stunt Snatched by Reality

29 Jul 2025

It is not even Day One of the Edinburgh Fringe and already we have theft, scandal and – if the marketing team at Vagabond Skies – The Van Gogh Musical is to be believed – a fine art heist. Edinburgh, hold my absinthe.

Congratulations to the marketing team for making something out of nothing

According to a release so breathless it might need a paper bag, one of the show’s posters was “stolen” from Middle Meadow Walk sometime between 20 July and now. Let us be absolutely clear: this is not an actual Van Gogh, no matter how long you stare at it or how many drama grads hum underneath. It is a show poster. Printed. Presumably glued. Possibly weather-beaten. Not the Sunflowers. Not even Sunflowers for GCSE coursework. Yet they have gone full Antiques Roadshow panic about it, and honestly, I respect the delusion.

A spokesperson called the incident “very frustrating” and referred to the pilfered poster as a “masterpiece” – which is bold, considering no one has seen the show yet. But here is the thing. If you plaster the Meadows with musical theatre posters in July, you are not advertising – you are feeding the pigeons.

The suggestion of foul play is, frankly, adorable. A “fine art thief” stalking the Meadows? Darling, the only thing artfully lifted from this area in the last 24 hours is someone’s overpriced falafel wrap. If anything, the disappearance of the poster should be treated not as a crime but as a small mercy. Fringe punters can now walk 30 feet without being visually shouted at about tortured painters singing in falsetto. Let us call it a public service.

Still, the PR stunt is almost impressive in its shamelessness. A poster goes missing and suddenly we are neck-deep in a faux art heist, just in time for opening night. One might call it coincidence. One might also have a functioning frontal lobe.

And yes, “authorities have been informed.” Presumably this means someone emailed the Fringe Society or filed a report with Security Dave in the purple vest. If Police Scotland are now assigning detectives to missing posters, I would like to report the theft of three hours of my life from last year’s immersive clown-ballet in a skip.

If Vagabond Skies hopes to spin a flimsy disappearance into ticket sales, they had better have a better plot than “someone nicked our poster and we want it back.” But hang on. I have just spent the last 20 minutes mentioning their show. Perhaps it worked. Cunning. Congratulations to the marketing team for making something out of nothing – a true Fringe tradition, and arguably more creative than most musicals about painters.

Now, if someone could kindly steal the next three hundred posters on Nicolson Street, we would all be better off.

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