John Hegley - Beyond our Kennel

When John Hegley saunters on stage, failing to introduce himself to those members of the audience who might not know who he is or what he does, he launches into a continuation of his 2007 show – Letters to an Earwig. It’s a funny gag if you saw last year’s performance, but sadly falls flat on the ears of many in the crowd.

Hegley, now in his mid-50s, has been writing poetry since the early 1980s and should rightly be recognised as one of our best performance poets. But taking this renown for granted by assuming that most of the audience is already familiar with his work is a trait that really hampers the show’s comedic impact.

His material is, as ever, bursting with fanciful jokes and wry observations. As well as new poems, he reads from his 1998 book, Beyond our Kennel, accompanied by music from his friend the poet Tony Curtis, who will play live with him on his last show.

However, Hegley’s lyrical ingenuity never quite comes to the fore as most of his pieces are read off reams of paper, from which he seldom looks up.
Towards the end of the show, he springs into life, perhaps spurred on by someone who’s just walked out – it’s just a shame this passion didn’t enter his delivery before.

His wistful songs played beautifully on the mandolin certainly liven up the atmosphere – ‘Grandmere’ and ‘An American in Luton’ are particular audience favourites. And, as Hegley freely admits, this show is still a work in progress – let’s hope it shapes up into something livelier in the coming weeks.