Normaler Than Everyone continues at Gilded Balloon Teviot – Nightclub, Edinburgh until 26 August 2019.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
This autobiographical piece by Brian Joseph is the tale of how he reacted and managed his wife’s cancer diagnosis.
From the very first casual, almost folksong/country style number, Joseph presents himself as laid back, relaxed and gentle, skilfully strumming his guitar. He expounds the philosophy of ‘shit happens’ and you’ve just got to deal with it.
However, the shadow of death is there from the get-go.
Joseph is a photographer and projects photographs he takes of his audience as well as his photo essay of his wife’s cancer journey. The ghostly images that happen early on in his studies of his wife are interpreted as prophetic. He is torn between wanting to protect his wife’s wishes for privacy and his urge to show us his observations from behind the camera. His love for her is a palpable, living thing and tremendously touching.
His musical style is almost conversational and warmly received by the audience. The themes here are the big ones: life and death; dreams and nightmares; beliefs and knowledge in conflict. Working from his specific context, perhaps Joseph is trying to de-personalise the trauma of his reality by staying one step away from the ‘everyday’ through his music and his photographs.
Touching, genuine and warm you leave having learnt a bit more about truth and honesty. You feel more aware of what are the important things in life thanks to Joseph’s story.
Fiona Orr
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