Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Theater Review: Leonard Nimoy's Vincent

Wilderowens and I recently had the opportunity to see Leonard Nimoy’s Vincent at the Theatre at St. Clemens. You heard correctly. Spock wrote a play about the life and death of Vincent Van Gogh told to us though the eyes of his brother, Theo. 

Vincent is a one-man play, and when performing, it’s vital the actor has the ability to rely entirely on themselves to bring the play to life. There is no one else to play off of or take cues from. Unfortunately, James Briggs, who played Theo, was unable to do so. It's not that he was bad, but he was emotionally inconsistent. He told a good story but had difficulty conveying genuine emotion. Briggs did anger well, but when it came to anything else, he fell flat. There were struggles with sarcasm and asides, and this led to some of the humor of the play getting lost.