Luke Wright’s Stand-Up Poetry – a night of great pleasure

Posted on 4th May 2019

One of the great pleasures of Luke Wright’s stand-up poetry nights is hearing his new work in progress, and it was fascinating to hear his continued look inward. We heard about his mum, his dad, his kids, when he’s drunk and when he’s jealous. All impressively done, but I hope his sets continue to leave room for those signature state of the nation snapshots that he does so well.

Molly Naylor claims to have an affinity with mumbling weirdoes, a claim buttressed by recurrent themes of social awkwardness, being nothing special, and just getting by. Each are explored with a depth of the dramatist that she is, leaving you with the abiding feeling is that there’s much more to her work than can be picked up first time around.

Urbane, laconic and droll, Tim Turnbull sits on a line between Jim Noir and Ian McMillan, raising chuckles as much through delivery as content. There were pot shots at bohemians, oligarchs and the people of Perth, but look beyond the easy targets, and there was a rich tapestry of quirky cultural touchstones, with Grayson Perry rubbing shoulders with likes of Steve Ditko and Michael René.

Luke Wright takes obvious pleasure presenting up-and-coming talent at these evenings, but on this occasion we were reminded that listening to more experienced poets can be a lot of fun too.

David Vass