Nicholas Wright is pushing a specific theory in Vincent in Brixton, a comedy-drama that arrives here trailing a vaunted reputation and with a cast headed by Broadway debutante Clare Higgins, who's already stacked up awards at home for her performance. Wright contends that from 1873 to 1875, when Vincent van Gogh lived in South London's Brixton enclave, he nurtured the seeds of his artistic brilliance much as he may have nurtured plants growing in the garden of the boarding house where he lodged.

Speculating on something as elusive as the particular incidents that spark creation in a latent talent is like trying to snare the breeze in a butterfly[...]