Vincent
Written by Leonard Nimoy | Starring Jim Jarrett
Play Overview
Leonard Nimoy spent years researching and writing Vincent, a show that would eventually star Nimoy himself. In March of 1981, Vincent opened at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, then to Broadway where it became the smash-hit of the season. That success led to a PBS special taped back at the Guthrie in January 1983. Mr. Nimoy has never performed the show since.
Jim Jarrett was introduced to Vincent in 1994. After reading it, he immediately contacted Mr. Nimoy and an hour later, secured the rights to produce the show himself. Jarrett then spent the next two and a half years simply working on what he knew to be, “the role of a lifetime.”
In October of 1996, Vincent opened in Kona, on the island of Hawaii and was an enormous success — sold-out shows over the next six weeks.
From this success, he was invited by Bruce Willis and Demi Moore to perform at their theater in Sun Valley, Idaho. The success and publicity from these shows created such a buzz that Jarrett has been on tour ever since, playing to over a quarter-million people in premier performing art centers, colleges and museums throughout the world.
Video Demo
Edinburgh Fringe Festival 08′ Reactions
August 16, 2008 – Edinburgh, Scotland: The International Fringe Festival – officially “the world’s greatest arts extravaganza” with over 2,800 shows presented daily – today nominated American actor, Jim Jarrett, for “Best Performer – Male or Female – In A Solo Show.” The Fringe Festival Stage Committee called Jarrett’s performance “a stunning and beautiful acting achievement.” Jarrett, along with the other four others will be honored this Sunday, August 24th at 7:00pm at Assembly Hall.
**Edinburgh Festival Interview
“Jim Jarrett had my full attention from the moment he stepped onto the stage till the moment he left. Jarrett is simply unmissable; giving a touching and passionate performance that I’m sure will not be topped at this year’s festival. Do not miss a chance to see Jarrett’s mesmerizing performance and whether you know everything or nothing of the great Vincent Van Gogh, I beg you to go take in this great passionate theatrical experience!”
“For the past dozen years, Jim Jarrett has toured with the show, bringing to Edinburgh a highly polished and fully developed characterization and presentation. Jarrett is backed by projections of dozens of Vincent’s paintings and drawings which, being undeniably works of genius, constantly threaten to upstage the actor, but his willingness to run that risk is a measure of his confidence in the power of his story and his performance. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!!! ”
“American actor Jim Jarrett expresses with color and immediacy the intensity of the relationship. As he reads from Vincent’s letters there is an overwhelming sense of something very private being exposed … Jarrett’s self-directed performance is thoroughly engaging.”
“With over two-thousand shows every day at this year’s Fringe my must-see show is Vincent! Jarrett is extraordinary! … Vincent is fabulous! An acting achievement … an in-character history lesson with a heart!”
“Jarrett’s production of Leonard Nimoy’s Vincent has become an international touring phenomenon and you should see why … what it does to an audiences is amazing … an absolute must-see at The Fringe!!!”
“Vincent is compelling … passionate … a compelling, informative production beautifully performed and directed by Jim Jarrett … I was simply amazed!”
“Vincent is a top 50 MUST-SEE of the Fringe Festival!!”
Setup and Synopsis
ACT I:
The time is late July 1890, one week after Vincent’s death.
The period of time covered in this act ranges from the late 1870′s until Vincent’s first hospitalization in the asylum on September 24th, 1889
ACT II:
The time is continuous until after Vincent’s death, which occurred on the morning of July 29th, 1890.
THE PLACE:
A lecture hall in Paris, France.
SYNOPSIS:
It’s been a few days since the untimely passing of artist Vincent Van Gogh. At 36, he had been a preacher, a painter, and, most significantly, a pauper. His long-suffering brother Theo, having underwritten his sibling’s many career paths over the decades, is angry and upset by the word traveling around town. Everyone from citizens on the street to fellow painters in the café claims that Vincent died deranged, killed by his own hand in an act of suicidal insanity. Calling together friends and family, peers and opponents, Theo hopes to set the record straight once and for all. He wants to discuss his brother’s devotion to lost causes. He wants to clear the air about his medical (and mental) conditions. He needs to show society that his seemingly directionless relative was actually a man of great courage and masterful artistic skill, lost in the arenas of love and life, but brilliant in capturing his “impressions” of the world around him. From his earliest sketches to his final finished masterpieces, Theo is convinced that his brother was easily ignored and resoundingly ridiculed based on little more than rumor and innuendo. He plans to show the reality behind the gossip. He wants them to understand his fragile family member, Vincent.
Reworking a previous one-man play called Van Gogh by Phillip Stephens, Vincent’s author, Leonard (Mr Spock) Nimoy drew on over 500 letters between Vincent and his brother Theo and devised this solo piece, incorporating art as well as artifice to provide an evening of insight into a gifted, if haunted, master.
A true labor of love, Vincent is not actually the show you think it is. This brief but powerful presentation is part lecture, part impassioned plea, and all acting acumen. It’s a true tour de force performance here, channeling the more famous Van Gogh while giving the main narrative elements to frequently forgotten brother Theo. In fact, this is really less of a biography and more of a meditation on the meaning of art and artistry in a world that measures success by sales. Even though we are dealing in an era where painters could practice their craft and still be viewed as viable, Theo makes it very clear that Vincent’s various mental and physical failings (he was originally thought mad, though he was later diagnosed with epilepsy and, perhaps, schizophrenia) created a much harsher benchmark for his brother to reach. Indeed, because of the magnificence of his work, because of the boundaries he pushed as an impressionist and as a colorist, Vincent was viewed as strange and different. In Nimoy’s view, this translated into a kind of communal freakdom. Vincent Van Gogh was viewed as the oddball, the outcast who would prefer to chase coal miners down the shaft, delivering sermons on the Gospel in evangelical fury, rather than conform to the typical mandates of a career artisan.
Selling this previously unheard of historical position this is exactly where Vincent shines. Several times throughout the course of the story, images of Van Gogh’s work are matched with beautiful classical music, allowing the actor a chance to rest and reflect. Nothing about Vincent feels forced or undeserved. This is a very funny play, with lots of witty asides and caustic rejoinders cast out on famed friends like Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin. We frequently find ourselves lost in the amazing landscapes and haunting words that, together, frame a gifted, troubled spirit. Some may find the In Search Of …-style ending, with filmed material used as a follow-up on some of the questions and concerns the play raises, a little strange, but frankly it feels like a necessity. It allows us to add our own thoughts on the subject, while bringing some kind of closure to the entire Van Gogh mythology.
A few words from the author, Leonard Nimoy
“Vincent Van Gogh was one of the world’s loneliest souls. He was also one of the most misunderstood. He was an artistic genius yet he received no recognition during his lifetime and his work dismissed as that of a mad man.
There was one man on earth who encouraged him in his work, provided him with supplies and money necessary to continue painting, who believed in him and who had an inexhaustible fund of love, which above all else, Vincent needed: his brother Theo. Each night, when the fourteen to sixteen hours of drawing and paintings were over, Vincent sat down with pen and ink and poured his heart out to his brother. There was no element of his artistic struggle too unimportant for Vincent to communicate to the only other living person who considered his every word and feeling precious.
At age thirty-seven, Vincent died in Theo’s arms. Six months later, at the age of thirty-four, Theo died. He left behind a wife and baby. Having saved every letter Vincent had ever written, Theo also left behind the story of Vincent’s’ life — told by Vincent in soul searching detail.
For a number of years I researched these letters – one thousand six hundred and seventy pages survived – and discovered that at Vincent’s funeral Theo was so overcome with emotion he was unable to speak. And so, my play begins one week after Vincent’s’ death. The setting is a lecture hall in Paris. The time is late July, 1890. Theo has rented this space and invited artists, friends, anyone who will listen to him. His hope is today he will be able to express himself and to do justice to the memory and reputation of his beloved brother, Vincent. Those of you in attendance tonight are an integral part of this play. You are the people who came to hear Theo that warm day in Paris, over one hundred years ago.”
… Leonard Nimoy
Tour History
Since 1996 Jarrett has been touring Vincent around the world.
The following is a partial list of shows that have sold-out along the way:
Venu# SeatsLocation
International Fringe Festival | 200 | Edinburgh, Scotland |
Greenwich Theatre | 800 | London, England |
Philadelphia Museum of Art | 525 | Philadelphia, PA |
Carnegie Hall | 600 | Lewisburg, West Virginia |
University of Singapore | 800 | Singapore |
University of North Carolina | 755 | Asheville, North Carolina |
State Theater | 400 | New Brunswick, New Jersey |
Villa Montalvo | 388 | Saratoga, CA |
International Theater Festival | 2000 | Manilla, Philippians |
Lobero Theater | 685 | Santa Barbara, CA |
Orphian Theater | 1200 | Scottsdale, AZ |
Sun Valley Performing Arts Center | 350 | Sun Valley, ID |
Annenberg Theater | 800 | Palm Springs, CA |
Aloha Theater | 400 | Kona, Hawaii |
St. Croix Stages | 800 | St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands |
Victoria Theater | 600 | Vicotria, B.C. |
Perry’s Egyptian Theater | 1,200 | Ogden, Utah |
Purdue University | 700 | West Lafayette, IN |
Four Rivers Center | 1,200 | Paducah, KY |
Lang Trust | 1,200 | Sandusky, Ohio |
Jasper Arts Commission | 600 | Jasper, IN |
Moorhead State | 940 | Fargo, North Dakota |
Kimo Theater | 800 | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
Pantages Theater | 940 | St. Petersburg, FL |
Rief Center | 800 | Grand Rapids, MN |
Plummer Auditorium | 1000 | Fullerton, CA |
Culver Academy | 1000 | Culver, Indiana |
Admiral Theater | 800 | Bremerton, WA |
Santa Catalina School | 800 | Monterey, CA |
Booking Information
Jim Jarrett is represented exclusively by:
Clint Mitchell, Senior Vice President – William Morris Agency
151 El Camino Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310.859.4478
If you would like information about bringing any of Jim Jarrett’s touring productions to your community you may also contact Jarrett Productions directly at 208.720.7888 or
jim@jarrettproductions.com