Luke Wright at The Edge

Every year, poet, playwright and broadcaster Luke Wright makes and tours a new show, and this one is JOY. Described as “a raconteur and wordsmith at the top of his game”, Luke Wright’s latest show follows the success of Silver Jubilee (“the best thing he’s done and that’s saying something,” said the Telegraph).

The new set of poems get to grips with the idea of joy – Wright asks: “Is it possible, as a 42 year old, to feel pure unbridled happiness, and what does it look like?” With a mix of the comic and the wistful, JOY takes in consumerism, boozing, cancer scares, abseiling vicars, and the joy of language itself. He says: “We might have to go down to come up, but we’ll get there in the end. Come let a little joy into your life.”

Described as “both brazen and elegiac”, Wright’s poems “pull on the tidy hem of responsible existence to unravel the frustrations of the family, politics and masculinity in 21st century Britain”. Marrying inventive writing with “breath-taking performance skills”, he regularly supports John Cooper Clarke on tour (as does Mike Garry; catch him at this month’s Word Central) and often MCs shows for The Libertines. He’s a regular on Radio 4 and has won a Fringe First for writing, a Stage Award for performance, and was the 2021 Saboteur Spoken Word Artist of the Year. His pamphlet, After Engine Trouble (Rough Trade Books), won the Saboteur Award for best pamphlet in 2019. He has made 13 spoken word shows and three verse plays, which have been published as epic poems by Penned in the Margins. He has also published four poetry collections and six pamphlets, the latest Pub Grub.

Support comes in the form of Oliver James Lomax, who you might have spotted at The Portico recently. He has published five collections of poetry including 2017’s 18 Poems, illustrated by the artist Dan Llewellyn Hall and garnering praise from the likes of Mike Garry (him again) and Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 Music, The Dandelion Clock (Cityscape Records, 2020), and Burial of the Cameo published in 2023 by Working Class Movement Library.

Luke Wright’s JOY tour (supported by Colchester Arts Centre) also includes these Northern dates: 15 February, Brewery Arts, Kendal, with the brilliant Ann the Poet supporting; 6 March, The Trades, Hebden Bridge; 19 March,  The Say Owt at the Crescent, York, part of York Lit Fest.