Vincent in Brixon review – a radiant portrait of the artist as a young romantic

Orange Tree theatre, London
Van Gogh is a restless soul who finds kinship – and possibly more – with his London landlady in this tender and full-hearted drama

The young Vincent van Gogh spent a year in south London pursuing a fitful career as an art dealer, and may have had a relationship with his landlady or her daughter. Nicholas Wright’s 2002 play imagines this episode: in Georgia Green’s tender production, it emerges as far more than a footnote from art history.

Landlady Ursula, clinging to crow-black widow’s weeds, feels her life is over. Vincent, all misdirected energy, tries to get his life started. In Wright’s telling, they share a mental perturbation: they uncover kinship in misery, then a romance that alleviates it.