Vincent Van Gogh: A Life in Paintings.

This show is presented by Third Wall Theatre by the  Stichting Vrije Val/Muziektheatre Frank Groothof Production    in association with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Why couldn’t Van Gogh, who killed himself in 1890 at the age of 37, have integrated some of the joy of the sunflowers he painted so exuberantly into his own tormented life? That’s just one of the many questions Frank Groothof’s compelling one-man show provokes.

In Ottawa for a single night at The Gladstone Theatre,  the 75-minute production traces Van Gogh’s life from boyhood through the years of exploding creativity and growing obsessive behaviour to, ultimately, his death. Groothof plays both the painter and his younger, devoted brother Theo using a cap and increasingly agitated body language to depict the former and glasses and a gentle demeanour to capture the latter.

Recorded music from the 19th century and images of Van Gogh’s figure studies, portraits, and marvellous land and city scapes displayed on a large screen dovetail with the narrative.

It’s not a perfect piece of work. One wishes for a touch more insight into Van Gogh’s childhood, and Groothof, whose native tongue is not English, does muff lines. But like Van Gogh and his art, the well-paced show is both layered and passionate.