Credit: Jake Dennis
By Grace Hatchell
Two Bananas, One Gallery Wall and a $6.2 Million Identity Crisis: How to Art Comes to Edinburgh Fringe
Art can be many things.
Beautiful. Challenging. Political. Transformative.
It can also, apparently, be a banana fastened to a wall with duct tape and sold for more money than most of us will see unless we accidentally inherit a minor principality.
Ratbags Theatre is bringing How to Art to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2026, introducing audiences to two bananas who wake up stuck to the wall of a prestigious gallery.
They do not know who they are.
They do not know why they are there.
They have not yet learned how to speak.
But somebody is preparing to auction them, so they had better work it out sharpish.
The award-winning clown show runs at Underbelly Cowgate’s Iron Belly from 5 to 30 August 2026, excluding 17 and 24 August, at 9.40pm.
Because existential fruit is best enjoyed after dark.
What happens when the artwork starts thinking?
Created and performed by Katie Burson and Georgie Llewellyn, with additional performance from Bronwyn Ensor, How to Art asks a wonderfully peculiar question:
What does art think about art?
The show begins with two bananas duct-taped to a gallery wall. They are ripe with potential, although that may partly depend on how long the venue’s air conditioning remains functional.
As the bananas slowly break free from their tape, they discover that the gallery contains other forms of art. They find art in the room, in the audience and eventually everywhere around them.
They learn their first words, meet their first friends and begin planning a new life.
Unfortunately, an auctioneer is roaming through the audience, searching for the highest bidder.
Nothing interrupts personal growth quite like somebody placing a monetary value on your forehead.
Inspired by the world’s most expensive snack
How to Art takes inspiration from Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, the artwork consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall.
The piece became an international sensation and was eventually sold for $6.2 million before being eaten by its new owner.
Which is either a devastating comment on consumer culture or the most expensive potassium supplement in recorded history.
Ratbags Theatre uses that infamous image as the starting point for an hour of clowning, physical comedy and satire. The production pokes fun at the lofty language of galleries while asking serious questions about artistic value, ownership and the way creative work is bought and sold.
In a world where a banana can command millions while working artists wonder whether they can afford their weekly groceries, the joke arrives with a fairly sharp little point attached.
The show is described as personal, political and, inevitably, bananas.
When art becomes a product — and so do the artists
At its heart, How to Art appears to be about commodification.
That is a grand word meaning somebody has worked out how to put a price tag on absolutely everything.
Art is judged by sales, prestige, reviews and whether a wealthy person is prepared to nod thoughtfully at it while holding a glass of warm white wine.
Artists can quickly find themselves caught in the same system. Their ideas, identities and personalities become part of what is being marketed.
The bananas in How to Art are not simply objects waiting to be sold. They begin to develop thoughts, friendships and ambitions of their own.
They want to escape the wall.
They want to experience life.
They may even wish to avoid being peeled by a cryptocurrency investor.
Frankly, who could blame them?
Clowning with a point
The production comes to Edinburgh following successful appearances in New Zealand and Australia.
It won the Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award at New Zealand Fringe 2025 and received nominations for both the Spirit of Fringe and Best in Theatre at Melbourne Fringe 2025.
Reviews have praised the show’s high-energy physical comedy and creativity, with Theatreview calling it one of the funniest shows its reviewer had seen.
There is a particular skill involved in using clowning to discuss complicated ideas without making the audience feel as though they have accidentally wandered into a postgraduate seminar.
Clowns can make serious questions feel immediate because they approach the world as though seeing it for the first time.
Why is this object valuable?
Who decided it was art?
Why must it stay on the wall?
And is anybody going to eat it?
All perfectly reasonable enquiries.
Meet Ratbags Theatre
Ratbags Theatre is an emerging company based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand.
The company is led by theatre-maker Katie Burson and aims to champion unusual theatrical forms, create opportunities for new collaborations and support sustainable careers in the arts.
Ratbags launched in 2024, and How to Art became its award-winning debut production after being developed by Burson and Georgie Llewellyn over two years.
The production was supported through residencies with Capital E, Wellesley Studios and TAPAC.
Burson and Llewellyn co-created, perform and co-direct the show. The wider creative team includes production designer Rob Byrne, costume and textile designer Dan Collings, object designer Tse-Yu Lin and sound composer Fia Haugh.
That is an impressive number of talented people working together to put two bananas on a wall.
Art is complicated.
Grace attempts to understand modern art
I have always believed that the correct response to modern art is to stand three feet away, tilt your head slightly and say, “There’s a real tension in the negative space.”
Nobody will challenge you.
They are frightened you may know what you are talking about.
But How to Art sounds genuinely clever because it takes the debate out of the gallery brochure and gives it little legs.
The bananas are allowed to question the system that created them. They can wonder whether their value comes from what they are, who made them or how much somebody is prepared to pay.
They can also fall over.
Never underestimate the philosophical force of a well-timed fall.
The show’s premise is delightfully ridiculous, but the ideas behind it are recognisable to anybody who has made something creative and then been asked to prove its financial worth.
Artists are routinely told to follow their passion while simultaneously being offered “exposure” instead of payment.
Exposure is useful for photographs and houseplants.
It will not cover the electricity bill.
Why How to Art could be one of Edinburgh’s cleverest clown shows
The best Fringe ideas can usually be explained in one sentence.
Two bananas wake up duct-taped to a gallery wall and try to escape before they are sold.
There we are. Immediate. Visual. Ridiculous.
Yet the premise opens the door to questions about artistic freedom, commerce, identity and who gets to decide what has value.
That balance between silliness and substance is difficult to pull off, but How to Art arrives with awards, strong reviews and successful runs behind it.
It sounds like the sort of show where audiences may spend an hour laughing at fruit and then find themselves discussing capitalism on the walk home.
Edinburgh does that to people.
Grace’s verdict
This is precisely the kind of Fringe nonsense I support.
Two performers dressed as bananas escape from a gallery wall while examining the commodification of art.
It sounds like somebody combined a philosophy lecture with the produce aisle at Morrisons and remembered to add clowning.
There is something immediately lovable about artworks deciding they no longer wish to cooperate.
Perhaps every portrait secretly wants to climb out of its frame.
Perhaps every sculpture dreams of going bowling.
Perhaps the bananas simply want to make it through August without somebody turning them into a smoothie.
Whatever happens, How to Art promises physical comedy, big ideas and fruit with an unusually developed political consciousness.
Priceless, really.
Although somebody will almost certainly attempt to auction it.
How to Art | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
How to Art — Edinburgh Fringe 2026 details
Venue: Underbelly Cowgate, Iron Belly
Dates: 5–30 August 2026, excluding 17 and 24 August
Time: 9.40pm
Running time: 60 minutes
Age recommendation: 14+
Content information: Audience participation, scenes of a sexual nature and strobe lighting
Created and performed by: Katie Burson and Georgie Llewellyn
Additional performance by: Bronwyn Ensor
Company: Ratbags Theatre
Frequently Asked Questions
What is How to Art about?
How to Art follows two bananas who wake up duct-taped to the wall of a prestigious gallery. As they escape, they learn to speak, make friends and discover other forms of art before an auctioneer attempts to sell them.
Is How to Art based on a real artwork?
Yes. The show is inspired by Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, the famous artwork featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall.
Is How to Art a comedy?
Yes. It is a physical comedy and clown show that also satirises the visual art world and explores the commercial value placed on art and artists.
Who performs in How to Art?
The show is created and performed by Katie Burson and Georgie Llewellyn, with additional performance by Bronwyn Ensor.
Where is How to Art playing at Edinburgh Fringe 2026?
The production will be performed at Underbelly Cowgate in the Iron Belly venue.
When does How to Art run?
The show runs from 5 to 30 August 2026, with no performances on 17 or 24 August.
What time does the show start?
Performances begin at 9.40pm and run for approximately 60 minutes.
Does the show contain audience participation?
Yes. Audience participation forms part of the production.
What age is How to Art suitable for?
The recommended age is 14 and over. The production includes scenes of a sexual nature and strobe lighting.
Has How to Art won any awards?
Yes. It won the Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award at New Zealand Fringe 2025 and was nominated for the Spirit of Fringe and Best in Theatre awards at Melbourne Fringe 2025.
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