But Brixton, according to this fascinating piece, was the place where the then underachieving art dealer started to perceive so much beauty through his surroundings and the people he met.

And like the odd film-making teenager in American Beauty, van Gogh feels as if he can barely take it.

He needs an outlet and finds company for his misery in the arms of his widowed landlady Ursula.

Alexander Rogers portrayed the over-excitable, passionate but shocking artist-to-be very well, maintaining an adequate Dutch accent while expressing an apt level of mania and depression in his performance.

Mary Macdonald, as the melancholy love interest, shone in the intense exchanges between the pair, provoking sympathy with her outbursts of anger or sorrow.

The juxtaposition of van Gogh's progress with that of his artistically talented but realistically underambitious housemate Sam Plowman poses the important question of whether potential is worth realising at any cost.

Wright's frequent clues, references and hints towards van Gogh's early inspiration, concluded by a lovely interpretation of how one of the artist's best known works was conceived, added colour to a play short on dramatic incident but bursting with emotion and interest.

We are left with the foreboding knowledge that the tragic painter is becoming brilliant at the expense of himself and others.

Perhaps those parts of van Gogh's life we know little about were the most pivotal of all.

Oliver Williams

Verdict: inventive and interesting