A love letter to Norwich

Posted on 27th April 2025

Although John Osborne’s CV no doubt describes him as a poet – the evening opened with a couple of fine examples – it is as a storyteller that he has truly distinguished himself. His autobiographical tales have taken his audience to Glastonbury and for a ride in his cassette playing car. He’s poured over the Radio Times and, most famously, examined the contents of John Peel’s Shed. Norwich: A Love Story is something of a departure, given that it’s not actually about him, and yet in some ways it feels like his most personal tale yet.

The performance at the Corn Hall was only its second outing beyond the Norwich ring road, and took place almost exactly a year from when it debuted at the Playhouse. At its centre is Keely Corbett, who journeys from Dunfermline to Norwich to be with the man she has fallen for. We see Norwich through her eyes, a device Osborne uses to share his own affection for the city he has made his home. Liberated from adhering to autobiographical detail, he has constructed his most coherent narrative to date, splicing a roll call of Norwich’s eccentric highlights with a story that is both emotionally powerful and narratively compelling.

Interspersed with photo montages, archive footage and voiceover, it is also his most sophisticated production to date, although it’s still his brilliant storytelling ability, conjuring images with just words, that really draws his audience in. While I suppose the bare bones of Keely’s story could have happened somewhere else, this love story is as much about place as it is personalities. Osborne’s masterly evocation of Norwich is a love letter to a fine city that must surely have resonated with anyone who lives, or who has lived there. And while Diss may be as far away from Norwich as you can get before slipping into Suffolk, it’s safe to say it resonated here too.