Poet Luke Wright Will Spread JOY at The Edinburgh Fringe

At the 2023 Fringe and subsequent UK tour, Luke Wright's Silver Jubilee proved that in his 40s he's making the best work of his life.  For 2024 he's taking LUKE WRIGHT: JOY! an even more ambitious show, drilling down into the slippery concept of joy, with outrageous slices of spoken word, inventive uses of the poetic form alongside utterly heart-wrenching moments. And there's a stack of great gags to boot!

LUKE WRIGHT: JOY! runs every day at Pleasance Dome from 31 July to 13 August at 14.55.

The French novelist Henry de Montherlant claimed that 'happiness writes white' but Wright's not exactly starting with a blank page. In his new show the Fringe's favourite poet writes urgently and warmly about family, fatherhood, and the sheer joy of language itself.

Wright says: 'Joy is famously difficult to capture in writing. Perhaps that's why so much poetry is miserable. The challenge for me was to write about joy whilst avoiding the saccharine. This show is defiantly not a live self-help book, nor is it a sixty-minute version of These are a Few of my Favourite Things. I touch on consumerism, family, stability and place - hopefully in unusual and engaging ways.'

This summer Luke Wright is celebrating 25 years as a gigging poet, rounding off his 60 date national tour with appearances at Glastonbury, First Light and Latitude. He has also been opening for poetry legend John Cooper Clarke, bringing the house down at illustrious venues such as The London Palladium, The De La Warr Pavilion and The Bristol Beacon. His latest collection of poems Are Murmurations Worth It? sold out its initial print run in six weeks.

His 2023 show Luke Wright's Silver Jubilee clocked up significant mileage as it toured all over the UK through late 2023 and the first half of 2024. The autumn/spring gig sheet for JOY is filling up now, looking set to amass even more dates.

Flamboyant, political and riotously funny, Luke has an international reputation as a leader of the spoken word scene and as one of the UK's most riveting spoken word performers. His poems are delivered with dynamism, intensity and charisma. Keenly personal but always inflected with irreverent humour, his poetry is always based on his life and observations - as a poet, a father and a son. He is acknowledged as one of our top poets and one of the principal architects of the now thriving UK spoken word scene. He is the winner of a Fringe First, a Stage Award for acting excellence and three Saboteur Awards, including Best Performer. www.lukewright.co.uk

Book tickets via https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/luke-wright-joy

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