Retired from a very successful career in television as a producer and writer, Henry Normal has been writing poetry for over half a century. Beginning at the age of fourteen he is now in his 51st year of musings and scribblings, gaining more and more success the older he gets. Founder of Baby Cow Productions with Steve Coogan and producer of huge comedy successes such as The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Nighty Night and Gavin and Stacey, Normal knows every thump of a comedy heartbeat and it is this mix of comedy and heart that is integral to his work.
From decades performing on the circuit Normal is entirely at ease in front of his audience. He reads from his published work and scraps of paper – an organised chaos of stanzas and verses on the big and little things in life. His Nottingham twang of dropped ‘hs’ and soft voice allows his more personal poems a delicate, almost whispered delivery. In amongst Normal’s witticisms and clever wordplay in limerick and haiku form are love poems to his wife Ang and compositions to his autistic adult son Johnny. Normal talks about his mother, who tragically died when he was young, his late brother and late father. Family is very much at the heart of much of his poetry with warmth and love penetrating at the forefront.
The ninety-minute show runs quickly with Normal trying to squeeze in an extra poem here and there that may not have been on his set list. It is an evening of gentle nostalgia at times, an audience nodding along in recognition of bygone days. Age is a subject that he broaches many times. Standing onstage in a cardigan and sipping a cup of tea throughout his set he is every bit the temperate grandfatherly figure but he reminds us on several occasions that younger people forget he has been their age and knows exactly what it feels like.
Normal has his work regularly on Radio 4 with each episode having a theme – love; home; family etc. What is nice about seeing his live show is that it becomes a mixture of all his themes in one place – a little bit of everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. Normal expertly navigates his subject matter, drawing an audible emotional response one minute and a laugh the next. His final poem, Better Days, is a beautiful anthem to living for the now rather than spending a life searching for the bigger and better – a hymn to the power of the present and contentment. It is a message that leaves the audience going home with positivity and perhaps a new perspective on their lot. The power of poetry indeed.
Reviewed on 20th October 2023.
