Vincent in Brixton

A moving portrait of the young Vincent van Gogh - a hit in the West End and on Broadway. Winner of the 2003 Olivier Award for Best New Play.



Brixton, 1873. A brash young Dutchman rents a room in the house of an English widow. Three years later he returns to Europe on the first step of a journey which will end in breakdown, death and immortality.

Nicholas Wright's play Vincent in Brixton was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in the Cottesloe auditorium, in April 2002, directed by Richard Eyre.

The production transferred to Wyndhams Theatre in the West End in August 2002.



'One of the best new plays ever presented by the National Theatre'



'A radiant portrait of the artist as a young romantic... tender and full-hearted... brimful with troubling emotion. The writing is wonderfully non-judgmental... Wright's play is no rehashed biography – it's a feeling exploration of restless souls'



'Nicholas Wright has convincingly imagined himself into the life of the 20-year-old Vincent van Gogh... superlative... An evening to savour'



'Fascinating... a play concerned primarily with unsettled hearts and big, unfulfilled dreams... a romance that feels natural and tender'



'The great strength of Vincent in Brixton is that it avoids clichés by presenting the great painter in his youth. We are asked to challenge all our assumptions as his future is subtly foreshadowed, but never referenced directly. It is the ultimate dramatic irony. We know more about Van Gogh's fate than he does. It's a playwriting masterstroke. It lets writer Nicholas Wright explore familiar subjects afresh and take huge imaginative leaps while keeping us squarely grounded. We're hearing conversations that there clearly can be no historical record of, yet they feel right, true and searingly honest'



'A delicate exploration of grief and who we love... captures an extraordinary range of emotion with remarkable delicacy. The writing moves deftly between humour and heartbreak... delivered with absolute assurance... an absorbing, moving and dramatic piece of theatre'



'A subtly evocative and brilliantly crafted play... the writing is so faultlessly accomplished and convincing that what unfolds is a touching story of the transforming power of love... unmissable'