Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The World’s Wife, the attention of the wrapped and poetic cool could not perhaps compete with the Edinburgh Festival’s more edgy and dark comedians, the abundance of plays or even the thought of a trek upon the extinct remains of Arthur’s Seat. However, for the poetic savvy, the ones who see instinctively the value in the power of words delivered by the exulted Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy as she looked her audience in the eye and read from a selection of her works, this was as close to a heavenly experience as could possibly be imagined.

To have Ms. Duffy at the Edinburgh Fringe, a graduate of the University of Liverpool, a friend of the late great Adrian Henri and the first woman to hold the post of  Poet Laureate, is the type of honour that an audience could only imagine being privy to. The sense of the occasion, the earthy mixed with the rejoiced was made all the sweeter for the audience in Studio 2 room of the Assembly Halls by the appearance of multi talented musician and composer John Sampson alongside her and taking great pride in introducing her in his own indomitable fashion.

Reading poems from The World’s Wife, The Bees and other memorable poems from her long and outstanding career, Ms. Duffy glowed in the opulence afforded her by the organisers and one into which the rich delivery of her poetry was applauded and revelled in, like a person being offered a blanket of finely spun gold thread in which to keep out the nip in the air sometimes freely given on a Scottish summer’s afternoon. The audience clutched the poetry closely and with a smile of satisfaction to wide it could have rivalled the Forth Bridge in terms of man-made structures forged in the Edinburgh area.

Poems such as Mrs. Midas, the tremendous Mrs. Tiresias and Mrs. Faust were joined by Mrs Schofield’s G.C.S.E, the abiding spirit of Liverpool and The Human Bee and each one was held close to the crowd’s heart and allowed the freedom to search for new acolytes far out into the streets and in amongst the minds of those to whom poetry may be an afterthought but to whom would speak loudly given the chance.

To witness Carol Ann Duffy delivering her own brand of poetry in Edinburgh is a privilege and one not to be missed.

Ian D. Hall