Before ‘Sunflowers’, ‘The Starry Night’ and ‘The Potato Eaters’, Vincent Van Gogh spent a year living in South London. Most may not know this but, for me, it was a key factor in my wanting to see this play. Because not only did I study Art History at university, but I too live in Brixton. In fact, for nearly a decade I have lived a stone’s throw from Vincent’s 1870s lodgings on Hackford Road. And such is Brixton’s love of Vincent that there is a quiet pedestrianised road named after him, a local primary school, until recently a cafe.
It seems that Brixton has kept Vincent close to its heart, as he is said to of it – describing his years in London as some of the happiest of his life. And it’s not hard to see why, this is Vincent, who even begins by calling himself Mr Vincent due to the mispronunciation of his name (“van like ‘fun’, gogh like the scottish ‘loch’ but now with a h” for reference) – Vincent, the person, before Van Gogh, the artist.
Jeroen Franks Kales as Vincent van Gogh and Niamh Cusack as Ursula
The Orange Tree Theatre is an intimate venue with fewer than 200 seats (currently undergoing an exciting and extensive modernisation project), and feels perfect for a revival of Nicholas Wright’s 2003 Olivier Award winning play. We take our seats immersed within a working Victorian kitchen of Ursula Loyer’s Hackford Road boarding house; smoke rising from potatoes boiling on the stove, and a central kitchen table which allows us to feel very much part of the action.
Amber van der Brugge as Anna van Gogh
There is a constant state of movement – cups of tea being made, eggs being cracked, sprouts chopped, kettles whistling – the real hustle and bustle of a house with constant to-ing and fro-ing. But this intensity also gives way to moments of muted calm and stillness which makes the emotional arc of the play even more poignant. It is within this one room, that the action of the story plays out.
A young Vincent (Jeroen Frank Kales) living in London and working as an art dealer, arrives seeking a room to rent. He explains that he’s walked from his current lodgings in Greenwich, has seen a listing in the front window and drawn in by a young man painting on the front step, desires to take the room. Within the first scene, he’s managed to intrigue the landlady Mrs Loyer, fall in love with her daughter Eugenie (Ayesha Ostler) and confuse the other lodger Sam (a charming Rawaed Asde playing Sam).
The cast, though most scarcely out of drama school, all give superb, nuanced and heartfelt performances. It is a script with pace and humour in its lightest moments, and pain and sorrow in its darkest. Kales, remarkably, in his debut as Vincent brings to the fore all the exuberance of youth, the known directness of the Dutch (without playing to stereotype) and the somewhat erratic, tempestuous nature that his latter years were typified by.
He has boyish charm, a somewhat nervous energy and a sense of being just a bit out of place – his being tasked with peeling potatoes (a knowing homage to his later work) in a tailcoat being one such physical manifestation. Kales exudes charisma, confidence and delivers a wonderful script with a matter of fact delivery that really makes it sing.
Jeroen Franks Kales as Vincent van Gogh
For all of the darker areas of Van Gogh’s life, the first half provides levity and wit that imbues a sense of optimism. The second half features a star turn from Amber van der Brugge as Vincent’s sister Anna. Tightly wound and acerbic, we see deeper in the psychology of the Van Gogh family, and she becomes the catalyst for the subsequent unravelling.
And finally we come to Niamh Cusack as Ursula Loyer – what a gem of a part for a mature actress to play. Her performance is understated, somewhat guarded, encapsulated by the smallest of gestures and looks which play so beautifully in an intimate space. Her relationship with Kales is tender and she masterfully balances fragility with strength. Together with Kales, we see the darkness they share, and that will later lead to his demise. This is ultimately a tale of humanity; a tight knit exploration of family, love, longing, belonging, passion and what it means to be truly seen.
Vincent in Brixton plays at The Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, until 18th April. The run is currently sold out, but tickets may be available via returns. The production is also being filmed for OT on screen. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk.
Photos by Johan Persson
