Luke Wright’s touring show Your New Favourite Poet was not so favoured by the people of Poole on 2 March, as The Lighthouse theatre had only 20 seats filled for his spoken poetry show.
But this did not lessen the passion of his performance, and his poetry came alive in ways that could never be reached when merely written.
Spoken poetry is an art form that not only requires impeccable memory, but also an incredible acting ability that shapes the way the poem is read, bringing new meaning with physical and vocal expression.
Wright’s comedic references sounded like the riffling of a stand-up comedian but in a melodic tone. Shifting tone is his poem would zig and zag the audience so they never knew what was coming, and if they expected one ending, they would get an entirely different one.
His poetry covered topics such as feminism, holidays, parenting, the class system, and relationships in subverted forms.
His poems included Weekday Dad, Posh Plumber and Barry the Blonde, but the most memorable was The Ballad of Raoul Moat, a gothic tale mixed with political and humanist commentary that chilled the audience to the bone with his haunting execution.
Between poems there was a bit of stand-up and local commentary, and overall this was a missed gem for the poetry crowd of Bournemouth and Poole.
Main image by Nickta Rowaichi.
