Luke Wright - Later Life Letter Portsmouth Guildhall Lens Studio
The Lens Studio is a smaller performance area in Portsmouth Guildhall, which was a shame as Luke Wright’s performance merited a bigger venue and bigger crowd. His one man show was a brilliant spoken word performance, focused on his latest book Later Life Letter - the information written by a social worker at the time of adoption to give children a limited amount of information about their origins. The book, and his show, charts his experience putting together the various strands of his (and his brother’s) adoption, subsequent happy life with adoptive parents and his efforts to track down the details of his birth mum and find out the two questions that all kids given up for adoption must ask themselves constantly - Why? and - What if?
In Luke’s story there is no really big reveal and no magic moment of tearful re-unification. Instead he mostly contents himself with social media sleuthing and online stalking. Pulling together the scraps and fragments of knowledge from which to build a past and present story. Luke’s performance explores the journey and uses it to analyse why he and others do the things that they do and why you might do them.
From the safety of a happy relationship with his adoptive parents he is able to take an overview that is still intense and insightful and certainly never dispassionate. Luke Wright is a great storyteller and wordsmith. He uses the narrative of his own journey to demonstrate his talents as a leading spoken word poet. Above all however he is a natural and compelling performer and carves out his own role both as subject and also narrator of this tale. Totally at ease in front of an audience with all focus on him he crafts a deep bond with those listening until they too are totally invested in the outcome. His story performed with all the verve and passion of a stage actor.
A fantastic hour in the company of someone who really deserves greater recognition. Do check Luke Wright out if you get the chance. https://www.lukewright.co.uk/