A dour artist on the verge

The tortured-artist cliche is hard to escape in the case of Vincent van Gogh, who famously cut off part of his left ear during a psychotic episode and, at just 37, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So Nicholas Wright is, perhaps, just going with the flow in “Vincent in Brixton,” his portrait of a young and already troubled Van Gogh, now at the Pasadena Playhouse.

From a little-chronicled event in his subject’s life (a sojourn in London’s Brixton district), Wright envisions an elaborate scenario in which the 20-year-old Van Gogh finds a partner in obsession and despair, only to dump this soul mate once a more profound mania takes hold: the act of creation.

Depressing? You bet -- and not merely because of the subject matter. Contrived and talky, Wright’s script appears to have flummoxed director Elina de Santos and a hardworking but ineffective cast led by Stephanie Zimbalist.

Van Gogh (Graham Miller) is not yet an artist when he arrives in London in 1873; he is, instead, a junior agent for an international art-dealing firm. A pastor’s son from a rural area of the Netherlands, he is stiff and pedantic as he begins to make acquaintances in the Brixton home of the widowed Ursula Loyer (Zimbalist), where he will lodge. Yet from time to time, a manic energy threatens to overwhelm him. It manifests itself first in a romantic fixation on Loyer’s daughter, Eugenie (Carolyn Palmer), then shifts to the elder Loyer, who is in her late 40s.

Ursula Loyer is prone to moods as black as the mourning clothes she still wears 15 years after her husband’s death. It’s a turn-on for the idiosyncratic Van Gogh. “You’re like a mirror of my unhappiness,” he says by way of courting her (a statement so preposterous it drew guffaws at Friday’s opening performance).

Keys to Van Gogh’s artistic awakening are meant to be discovered, meanwhile, in John Iacovelli’s design for the Loyers’ kitchen, which is painted in the earthy ochers, burnt oranges and sun-washed blues of Van Gogh’s mature work. During scene changes and at key moments, Leigh Allen’s lights pinpoint a wicker-bottomed chair, a vase of sunflowers and a pair of work shoes -- iconic Van Gogh images.

Although little known in America, the South Africa-born Wright is highly visible in London, where he has worked closely with the Royal Court and National theaters. The National gave “Vincent in Brixton” its premiere in 2002, and, last year, Lincoln Center hosted that production in New York.

The piece received the 2003 Olivier Award for best play and was nominated for the same Tony Award honor, even though the script drew criticism in many London and New York reviews. The tortured symbolism, out-of-the-blue developments and thick-witted announcements are all-too-visible stumbling blocks in the Pasadena production, however.

Usually capable of gorgeous nuance, director De Santos is blunt here, as when she merely parks Zimbalist and Miller in chairs at the front and center of the stage during the big revelation of love.

At Friday’s opening, Zimbalist conveyed brittle composure with believable subtlety, but her descent into depression seemed mechanical -- all sighs and groans as she rubbed her temples or buried her face in her hands. Miller’s Van Gogh was yet more artificial. In the character’s crisis moments, for instance, he could do little more than stand stock-still and stare straight ahead, to indicate inner turmoil.

The performers in secondary roles fared somewhat better. As fellow boarder and aspiring artist Sam Plowman, Trevor Murphy conveyed an earthy sensuality mixed with tenderness and decency. As Eugenie, Palmer came across as a young woman who is instinctively gentle-hearted and convivial, yet finds herself being swallowed into the household’s despair. And though saddled with a stock character, Tracie Lockwood uncovered hidden stockpiles of fortitude and affection as Van Gogh’s snooping sister, Anna, who briefly resides in the house.

The presentation might well deepen as the run continues, but will this relentless downer of a show be worthwhile even then? As Van Gogh stories go, this one lacks a lust for life.

*

‘Vincent in Brixton’

Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Also 8 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Aug. 31

Ends: Sept. 19

Price: $34.50 to $49.50

Contact: (626) 356-PLAY or www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org

Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Stephanie Zimbalist...Ursula Loyer

Graham Miller...Vincent van Gogh

Carolyn Palmer...Eugenie Loyer

Trevor Murphy...Sam Plowman

Tracie Lockwood...Anna van Gogh

Written by Nicholas Wright. Director Elina de Santos. Set John Iacovelli. Costumes Maggie Morgan. Lights Leigh Allen. Sound Pierre Dupree. Production stage manager Anna Belle Gilbert.