Luke Wright's unique brand of performance poetry is like nothing I have ever seen before. Providing a caustically witty take on the Daily Mail's own 'Broken Britain' through the lost medium of Balladry, this is Wordsworth for the X Factor generation. Wright takes inspiration from everything around him: newspaper articles, television, even the sign on the chip shop near his home. The finely finessed protagonists of his poetry are representative of wider sociopolitical issues. Take Dudley Livingstone, a thinly-veiled satire on Boris and the rest of the 'new' Tory brigade, or Barlow Burton, a tragic casualty of modern state negligence. These allegorical characters allow Wright to get right to the heart of the matter, and successfully move the audience in a way that mass media has never been able to. The simple, contained ballad form allows Wright's jaw-dropping lyrical talent to be exhibited in a straightforward manner which eschews frivolity or pretension. Captivating, Quentin Blake-style illustrations from Sam Ratcliffe are projected onto two screens behind Wright during the poetry, bringing the verse to life. In between poems, Wright holds up his one man show with aplomb. He shares insights on the history of Britain's best-loved poetical structure (facts which he freely admits are purloined from Google), and draws on a range of inspirational figures from Oscar Wilde to John Keats. Wright comes across as funny, thoughtful and honest, and oozes charisma. He clearly has a basic grounding in stand-up, and his dark-laced humour is a hit with the audience.The closing folk song ballad hits a bit of a bum note, as Wright's warbling becomes overly sentimental. This, however, was not enough to spoil the rest of the fantastic hour for me; an hour that was at once hilarious and heartbreaking, as well as profoundly human.
