Review: Julia Masli, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, The Wardrobe Theatre – ‘An intoxicating mix of clowning, comedy, hoodwinking and benign manipulation’

She walks on to the stage from the side entrance, wide-eyed and beaming at us like a wondrous child. She has arrived. But what is she wearing? A cycling helmet covered in junk that has turned it into a tall ornate headdress, and a blue robe draped asymetrically across her frame Westwood-style, seemingly carelessly but actually stylishly – and that seemingly, but actually is the leitmotif of the whole show. With Julia Masli, what you think you see is not what you get.

She has a couple of disarming catch phrases, the first of which is “tell me your problem”. When you do, she gives you an even bigger problem with the cunning use of the second catch phrase, “come with me”.

Masli proceeds to take her very carefully chosen victim/helper by the hand and lead them down a garden path towards some peculiar task or other. As the show is different each night, but with some set pieces, these tasks could for instance include smashing a chair to pieces and then having to repair it by hand over the course of the show. Or being a long-term older couple whose successful union and obvious love for each other is rewarded by being gaffer-taped together. Or being sent out several times via the fire escape on a wild-goose chase front of house. Or having your phone number shared with the whole audience who are asked to message you on a random date in the future.

Julia Masli, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha – photo: The Wardrobe Theatre

While she seems to be making it up as she goes along, Masli is firmly in control and she has a map. She is studying the audience intently, and over the course of the evening, like a Good Witch, she at first weaves an invisible magic web of mutual connection over us, and then goes on to delight us when the outcomes of her weavings go off like little explosions. So the show is an intoxicating mix of clowning, comedy, hoodwinking and benign manipulation.

She charms you with her wide-eyed gaze, and you willingly let her do it because you’ve fallen in love with her and her schtick. She’s a whole lot more accomplished than say, Tony Blair, at winning hearts and minds and this results in a very slick, but also completely authentic and beguiling, act. This is done completely transparently and with the full complicity of the audience. She’s got us where she wants us from the get-go because we want to be there.

One of the basic rules of clowning is: the clown is always in trouble. Julia purposely creates trouble for herself by uncovering the audience’s human issues which she then attempts to resolve. She’s brilliant at it. Another clown rule is: impose a limitation on yourself to add hilarity and pathos, in her case, by wearing an unwieldy plaster mannequin’s leg on her left arm. This hampers her physically in amusing ways the whole evening, especially when it comes to holding a mic, but she finds ways round it, creating both a surreal image and giving herself yet another reason to mug at the audience.

Julia Masli – photo: Andy Hollingworth

All this innocence belies the fact that Julia trained and later taught at Ecole Phillipe Gaulier, the renowned French clown school which takes no prisoners. Her life partner is Norwegian anarcho-comedian Viggo Venn who won Britain’s Got Talent 2023, much to Simon Cowell’s initial disgust. She’s also won a slew of awards and critical acclaim last year, including a nomination for Best Comedy Show at Edinburgh Fringe and The Guardian’s Number 1 Comedy Show.

“She’s beautiful, she’s engaging, you just love her from the moment she comes on. She is a very high status clown, she’s always in control and her levels of concentration are off the scale,” says my companion, a very fine contemporary clown herself who has done one of Julia’s workshops.

So the person before us at the humble Wardrobe Theatre is actually clowning royalty. Sadly I can’t say kill to get a ticket, because all three Wardrobe shows were a sell-out and she’s already gone. All I can say is, don’t miss her when she comes back, and next time round please can she do a full week?

Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha is at The Wardrobe Theatre on January 25-27 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available at www.thewardrobetheatre.com.

Main photo: Andy Hollingworth

Read more: Review: Don’t Do It, Don’t Do It, Do It!, The Wardrobe Theatre – ‘Fun-filled yet deeply heartful look at sexuality, womanhood and modern society’

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