VINCENT IN BRIXTON, SALISBURY PLAYHOUSE (AND THE NEW WOLSEY THEATRE, IPSWICH)

THERE could be any number of reasons why you feel that this play is not for you. Let me urge you to ignore them and book a ticket now - or miss out on a wonderful evening at the theatre.

As an artist, Vincent Van Gogh's medium was two dimensional, but Nicholas Wright's imagining of his early life and the time he spent in lodgings in Brixton is anything but. It is fully rounded, wonderfully detailed and totally compelling.

Little is known of the time Van Gogh spent as a young man working for an art dealers in London, but Wright weaves the clues and hints in his letters home to draw a picture of how his burgeoning artistic talent is unlocked by the transfiguring power of love.

Peter Rowe's beautifully observed production delivers on all levels. It has depth, emotion, passion, colour, light, shade, texture - all the things that make a painting great, and some wonderful ensemble acting to boot.

Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Van Gogh, Philip Cumbus gives a tremendously physical performance. He darts about, exploding with nervous energy, naïve and awkward one moment, tender and impulsive the next.

Initially attracted to the Loyers' boarding house by Eugenie, the beautiful daughter of the house, it is her widowed mother Ursula with whom he forms an understanding.

Francesca Ryan's portrayal of a careworn woman, locked into the misery of mourning but rejuvenated by love found late, is finely judged and deeply moving.

There are outstanding performances too from Tim Delap, cheerfully understated as Sam, the Loyers' other lodger and tyro artist, Claudia Renton's fragile, brittle Eugenie and Anna Lauren, excellent as Vincent's frumpish prig of a sister.

And it looks wonderful - Richard Foxton's lovingly detailed Victorian kitchen has a working range, running taps, and constant food preparation round the table. Sound and light is layered in like brush strokes.

The final image of Vincent furiously sketching his old boots, plonked on the kitchen table to dry out, is a passing nod to a future masterpiece and a hint of the single-mindedness of purpose that will drive him forward.

This portrait of the artist as a young man is not to be missed.

- Lesley Bates