Luke Wright
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Luke Wright

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However, before he can even contemplate coming down under, he has to finish off his more than successful stint at the Edinburgh Fringe. Of his upcoming 25 hour flight, he states, “I can’t wait. I think it’s going to be fantastic. I went to Australia once before. I went to the Adelaide Arts Festival and I had the best time. I’m really excited. I kind of haven’t been able to think about it as I had so much to get through here in Edinburgh, but now we are coming to the end, I am starting to get that real sense of excitement in my stomach about coming. We leave on Monday!” he beams. “I think in a weird way it will be a lot more relaxed in Melbourne. I think it is going to be like a real treat actually.”

While his stay in Melbourne sees him performing not only his own solo show, but two mixed bills, he says the trip will be a breeze when compared to his several shows a day at the Fringe. In fact, unlike his stay in Edinburgh, he may even have time to himself. Rather excitedly, he exclaims, “We’ve got a couple of days downtime actually. I’m doing about seven performances, but not all of them are full on performances, so it looks like there is enough time to relax and get to know Melbourne. I’ve never been to Melbourne and so I’m really looking forward to that. I hear it’s a great city, so it will be great to see what it’s like. A lot of people have told me it is the most exciting city in Australia, especially for the arts scene and stuff like that.”

Before we touch on his solo show, we quickly visit the mixed bill terrain. He reveals, “I’m doing one with some poets from all over the world, and one with two guys I am coming across with from England – Hannah (Jane Walker) and Tim (Clare). They’re basically really good mates of mine and we’ve done stuff together before. It’s not going to be too much of a challenge really, it’s just going to be fun.” Clearly more than a little enthusiastic about sharing the spotlight, however, with little detail divulged about his plans for the two shows, will he at least let on if he approaches a shared set any differently to his own solo shows? Without hesitation, he states “You do approach things differently if you are on a mixed bill. It’s a bit less pressure really, a bit more relaxed. But I know my show so well now as I’ve been doing it for a month that I don’t really have any qualms about that either. I’m not nervous about these shows at all, I am just excited to see how it is received in Australia.”

With Wright clearly wishing to ponder his own piece as opposed to focus on his joint shows, he describes his outing as follows, “It’s called Cynical Ballads and it is eight story poems about Britain, really. I think the themes are international, there is some political stuff, some social satire and every day stories.” With his work centered on his very British experiences and outlooks, does Wright worry at all that presenting these poems to an Australian audience may be met by a confused silence? “All my work is pretty British at heart really, but when I came over to Australia before, I found that there may be a few references here and there that people don’t get but you can just take a bit of time to explain it before the poem. It is a good way to break it up by connecting to the audience. I don’t think, generally, that people found it a hindrance. We share so much culturally and as human beings, so the emotional stuff works the same way. It will be interesting to see whether it has the same resonance as a whole as it is about Britain and not Australia, but I think it will translate.”

While he is pretty confident that his work will transpose effortlessly across cultures, he is also seemingly aware that his shows title Cynical Ballads could equally double as the title of a bad spoof country record. However, for those who might be worried that his show might simply be an excuse to lament in bad song, he reveals that the show has an educational through line too. “In between I sort of talk about the history of the ballad and its place in popular culture. When I say ballad, I mean in its traditional sense as opposed to what they do on Glee, Pop Idol or X Factor.”