one4review | On 04, Aug 2024

John Hegley is a master of his craft. You would expect this, given the length of his career, and his commitment to that craft, but his verve and uncomplicated delight in what he does are perhaps less assumed. Mr Hegley takes being silly seriously, and his work is as a result quirky and whimsical and profound.

This show, like last year, is a mix of poems and songs and art and audience participation, and like last year, it’s a lovely thing to be part of. Mr Hegley has a stage presence born of experience, both on stage but with people in general – in schools and in prisons and in workshops, with all ages. He brings everyone in without singling them out, and everyone’s a valued member of the audience, even if we can’t remember the lines or hit them on cue.

John’s feigned-frustration at these errors masks a depth of warmth and care, for the audience, but also for the subjects of his poems – guillemots and sports teachers and greek myths. Those diverse subjects and Mr Hegley’s style make the poetry accessible: poems grounded in things we know, settling us in with the familiarity, then using the prosody and the rhyming and the sounds to make them more, and to add context and nuance and meaning. That’s a lovely thing for an art form that folk often feel shut out from, and this is a warm and welcoming show.

Reviewed by Laura
Summerhall
13:30
Until 26th (not 12th)