BILL BRAY
introduces a play about what might have been
We think we know
about Vincent Van Gogh. There are, of course, his paintings and his letters,
mainly to his brother, but not a lot is known about his early years. The
familiar paintings, which did not sell in his lifetime, are all from the final
years of his life, which ended in 1890, when he shot himself at the age of 37.
His father, a pastor in a Dutch village, had
instilled in him a deeply religious belief which, with Vincent's nervous and
fragile nature, came close to religious mania. His uncle dealt in art and both
Vincent and his elder brother, Theo, gained introductions into this business
after leaving school. Vincent worked first in the Hague and then in Paris and
London. He lived in South London but the precise address was contested until
1971 when Paul Chalcroft, a London postman and amateur painter, used his local
knowledge and district records to declare that Vincent had lived at 87, Hackford
Road, SW9 close to the present Stockwell tube station.
Playwright Nicholas Wright, has used the
information gleaned from Chalcroft's revelation and from the numerous letters
Vincent wrote, especially to Theo, using as characters the real people who lived
in the house at the time. During this period Vincent thought that he should
follow his father's career in the church, but his interest in art, his drawing
and painting developed and blossomed into his particular agonised style with the
twisted lines and thick paint of his late work. And, of course, there is the
series of self portraits. Many see in the paintings a disordered mind but they
represent a life sacrificed to art and an absolute dedication to it in spite of
his poverty and mental ill-health.
Nicholas Wright inevitably uses a dramatists skill
to create events in Stockwell, which may not have happened, but he has created a
world in the 1870s which gives an insight into this disordered creative genius.
MARGARET YOUNG, director, writes
"An artist doesn't care for his
wife or children any more than for the pigeons in the park. He cares for
himself and for his work." In some small way I understand the feelings Nicholas
Wright is here ascribing to Vincent van Gogh. I'm no artist, let alone a
genius, but when producing a play I become obsessed. Nothing else matters at
the moment. I should be worrying about global warming, or catching up in the
garden, or even cleaning the house, but no: I think of nothing but the play.
One day I plan the perfect series of moves for the actors, only
to have the whole lot overturned by a greater perfection the following day and
the poor actors have to cope with it. When I visit friends I view their houses
as extensions of the GWT properties store, looking for what would be suitable
on-stage. For months my reading has been confined to van Gogh, his life and art.
During his short life, 1853 to 1890, he produced 900 drawings and
800 paintings, mostly executed during his last ten, turbulent years. Only one
painting was sold during his lifetime.
In 1875 he wrote to his brother, Theo, who supported him
financially: "Man is not on this earth to be happy, nor even honest. He is there
to realise great things for humanity, to attain nobility and to surmount the
vulgarity in which the existence of almost all individuals drags on." Perhaps,
while in London, he found a short period of peace and contentment as a lodger in
the Loyer household. Sadly, he could not cope with it and so he walked out. It
was during the following years, obsessed with religion, never without worries
about money and his deteriorating health, that he produced his great art.
The cast includes two new-comers to the Whitworth stage, Damon Unwin, who takes the part of Vincent and Jack Johnson as Sam Plowman, fellow
lodger, as well as Cath Bateman, Lindsay Frazer and Suzie Hall, all three
well-known to GWT audiences.
This is a moving play, not without its humour, uniquely set among
the clutter and smells of a fully working Victorian kitchen.
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