Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | May 21, 2015 | 35
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COMEDY
z e n i t r a M a c s e c Fran C
omedian and former Grange Hill actress Francesca Martinez is bringing her witty, thought provoking show, What the **** is Normal?! to Cambridge Junction. And thank goodness because she is quite wonderful. Warm and forthright on growing up with cerebral palsy (she calls herself “wobbly”), she’s an award-winning comic, bestselling author and dedicated welfare campaigner. Find out more . . .
‘Life is so short, we should embrace who we are and not let anyone else strip away our self-worth’
What the **** is Normal?! is probably my most personal show yet. I really wanted the show to feel very intimate, like the audience was just having a chat with a friend, so I really tried to be very open about my life. It looks at the idea of growing up in a world obsessed with normality when you’re labelled abnormal. As a child I felt totally normal, which may sound weird to some people – I think whatever you grew up with is normal to you – I had no idea that the world saw me so differently. As a result I was a very happy child, very confident, very unaware of being “different” and then I went to high school and it all changed. Suddenly I was presented with this cold, harsh reality that the world around me saw me as abnormal and as a pity object, and that was a very, very difficult time for me and very quickly I found myself losing all my confidence and becoming very insecure, very depressed and very fixated on being different. That lasted quite a few years until one day I had a revelatory experience, which was basically realising, hang on a minute, no one is normal, I’ve never met a normal person. Why am I tying myself up in knots to be something that actually doesn’t exist? That realisation absolutely transformed my life and I was very intrigued by that because it fascinated me that your whole life could change as a result of your perceptions shifting. I wanted to write a show about it because I realised that actually my struggle with insecurity wasn’t really anything to do with being wobbly, and everything to do with living in a culture which makes you feel bad about yourself and makes self-acceptance almost impossible because we’re told to focus the whole time on what we don’t have. We’re presented with these impossible ideals and images and we’re made to fear imperfections and difference and I think that’s such a damaging culture and I really wanted to challenge that and say: life is so short, we should embrace who we are and not let anyone else strip away our self-worth. The responses [to the show] have been incredible, it made me realise just how universal these battles were and how hungry people were to hear an antidote to this culture of conformity and aspiration. I’ve had letters from all over the world saying ‘You’ve really changed my whole perception, you’ve reminded me that I should be proud of who I am, that there’s only one me and I can’t be anyone else.’ I decided to write a book [also called What the **** is Normal?!] based on the show and that’s reached even more people. It’s been a great experience to get these ideas out there and to hopefully provide some mental tools to fight back with. I never see my experiences as private. I think we’re all human beings and our experiences are almost collective. I don’t see that what I’ve learnt, what I’ve been through is private, I see it as being very useful if we can talk about what we struggle with. It’s beneficial to everybody. I don’t feel at all possessive
about my struggles or battles. As a person I love reading about other peoples’ lives and hearing about battles and struggles, so I see it as a very empowering thing to share experiences that have been difficult or caused you pain and turn them into something positive that can perhaps help someone else. I really like comedians who are very hard hitting and make really informed points with their comedy. Like Marc Thomas, Jeremy Hardy, Stewart Lee, Josie Long. I love comedians who have some kind of depth to what they’re saying. I don’t just want to have an empty laugh. I saw Frankie Boyle the other night, he was amazing. I like a bit of bite. I’d like to write a second book, I’m planning that at the moment. Write a new show, tour it and keep fighting these terrible government cuts that are happening. It’s very important, especially with what happened last week. The new equality minister voted against gay marriage! It’s like you couldn’t make this up. They’ve rendered satire dead! Interview by Ella Walker
HOT TICKETS ON Francesca Martinez: WHAT’S What the **** WHAT’S HOTJunction, TICKETS is Normal?!, ON Cambridge Sunday,TICKETS May 24 at 8pm. Tickets £15 HOT WHAT’S ON from (01223) 511511 / junction.co.uk. WHAT’S ON HOT TICKETS