When Luke Wright first took to public performance twenty five years ago he picked one of the more challenging ways to achieve wealth and fame. He is a poet. And a rather good one who clearly enjoys nothing more than engaging an audience with his sharp writing and impressive delivery.

I have seen Luke perform many times over the years and his shows have always been enjoyable and full of humour, humanity, pathos and passion. Tonight he offered a rebalanced format to the show, with a selection of new and old poems for the first half and a single, powerful and emotional delivery of ‘The Remains of Logan Dankworth’ for the second half after an interval.

The first half was a nice mix of funny and moving works, with some excellent new writing. Amongst those new to me was another outing into univocalism, where Luke creates a poem with just one single vowel used throughout, in this case the letter ‘a’ in a poem called ‘Spad’. These highlight both his linguistic skills and his sheer joyful exuberance as a writer. Regular audience members may recall Burt’s ‘hummus’ from an earlier outing in this genre, if you have not bleached your mind since. This one was notable for including Ash Sarkar in a political tale.

Next was a topical monologue called ‘Harry and Meghan’, then an older work called ‘One Trick Bishop’, and a discussion of the value of murmurations! All were delivered with Luke’s characteristic rapid-fire delivery, very funny but brimming with political comment too. The audience were buzzing as they set out for interval drinks.

On our return we were presented with the refined and polished version of ‘The Remains of Logan Dankworth’ which I first saw premiered in this venue in 2019. While this work has the feel of some autobiography it is a fictional tale of the life, love, heartbreak and success of a young newspaper columnist and social media warrior set around 2015. It is a moving work, with much pathos and heartache, but also a surprisingly eloquent snapshot of a very particular point in politics and UK history as we lurched ever more recklessly into the chaos of Brexit and the most dishonest government we have ever known.

Luke Wright is a great writer, but he is also a very capable performer, effortlessly assuming many different persona and a wide range of accents and with an engaging line of patter between scripted segments. As ever the Arts Centre in Norwich was packed, with an appreciative, even hyped-up audience giving him the warmest of receptions. A classic Norwich night out.

 

 

© Julian Swainson, Norwich Eye, 23rd February 2023