Reviews

The play is set in a relatively well-to-do house in Brixton between 1873 and 1876 and takes us back to a period in Vincent van Gogh's life where he was just beginning to think about painting - long before he produced any of his famous works, moved to France, cut his ear off and became the archetypal tortured artist.

It's set entirely in the kitchen of the Loyer's house. 20 year old Vincent arrives like a whirlwind. At first you think Philip Cumbus, who plays him, is going slightly over-the-top, but then you get used to van Gogh's character and you realise this is exactly how you want him to be played - it explains the man's passion and drive which later drove him away from his family in Holland and into poverty and the asylum.

Anna and Eugenie

Vincent immediately falls in love with the daughter of the house Eugenie Loyer which alarms her widowed mother Ursula. His charm and passion persuades mum to give him a room anyway. Vincent finds out that many other passions exist within the house and the story interweaves them. We're left to believe that Vincent ends his time in London with a new-found belief in his own ability and potential as a painter.

The plot and set cleverly interweave items which we know became the subject of his later works - cherry blossom wallpaper, chairs, boots etc. You leave the theatre being convinced this must have been exactly what van Gogh's London life was like.

There's really nothing at fault in this New Wolsey/Salisbury Playhouse production. Francesca Ryan exudes repressed passion after 15 years of widowhood, Claudia Renton is slightly more uptight as her daughter and Tim Delap plays Sam Ploughman (the other lodger) as an orphan struggling to choose between a regular working man's job and artschool. 

Sam and Eugenie

Anna Lauren does a fine comic turn as Vincent's cleaning-obsessed sister Anna who comes to stay. The moment she finds Vincent's sketch of the lady of the house naked is like watching an angry mother finding porn under her son's bed!

A word of warning - if you don't like brussel sprouts then bring a peg for you nose. The play starts with the family cooking Sunday dinner and the smell of the vegetables fills the theatre for a while!

And more importantly as Vincent explains in the play - it's pronounced "fon hock (as in a Scottish loch)", not "van goff" as the British insist on mis-pronouncing his name. Maybe Vincent would have made a good Big Brother contestant?

Vincent In Brixton is on at the New Wolsey until Saturday 3rd March. Box office 01473 295900. It then travels to Salisbury, Colchester and Liverpool. For more details visit the New Wolsey or Vincent In Brixton websites by using the links on the right.