As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, I absolutely love the moment during a set when a clown changes the mood of a room in the blink of an eye. Intentionally taking an audience from riotous laughter to a silence so deafening that you can hear a pin drop. It takes emotion, it takes guts, and it takes no small amount of talent and skill. On this night, we had that moment, and this is how we got there…

The Bloomsbury Theatre has long been a friend to stand-up comedy. Walking into the venue this evening, I felt like I had been transported back to the late nineties/early 2000s. ‘Take That’ was blasting through the lobby speakers, and I was surrounded by an incredible collection of signed tour posters from the era featuring the likes of Mel & Sue, Sean Hughes, and Stewart Lee.

I had been invited along by a reviewer pal of mine (a proper one, actual newspapers and stuff!) who had a spare ticket, and as soon as I heard who would be on stage, I bit her arm off. We had heard nothing but good things about Ania Magliano and had failed to catch her twice at Brighton Fringe – finally, I would have the opportunity to find out first-hand if the hype was real.

Before the main show, though, was the warm-up act. I always forget that Bloomsbury does this – the logic of having a warm-up act followed by an extended interval which destroys the point of said warm-up will always be lost on me. I don’t want to say too much about Katie Norris as we are hoping to review her full show in Brighton, but from that brief taster, I have to say that we were absolutely blown away by her singing voice… just, wow!

And now, after all of that, the house lights are down, and our clown for the evening is about to take the stage… and we were not disappointed. Ania Magliano has the most unassuming way about her; everything just comes across as super casual. At first, it’s unnerving, but you quickly realize that you’re hooked into the show, and it’s just like listening to a mate you haven’t seen for ages catching you up with stories from the time you’ve missed.

The material is honest, engaging, and incredibly clever. The main thread of the show is the experience of a terrible haircut that is acting as a Trojan horse for the show’s true narrative. Her routine is a constant flow of twists and turns that trick you into anticipating one punchline and catch you in a rope-a-dope when she goes the other way. In the hands of a lesser clown, this trick could get tired, but with that ‘old friend’ metaphor in mind, you happily go along with it.

The ‘moment’ that I mentioned at the start of this piece obviously comes when the Trojan horse is opened, and it is a masterful piece of timing to bring it in when she does and to bring the room back up to a positive conclusion without losing any of the impact or cheapening the story.

This was an incredible stand-up show, leaving me both glad that I had waited but also frustrated that we hadn’t seen her show sooner. I cannot wait to see what this clown does next and cannot recommend grabbing a set of tickets if she passes your way.

Clown Stars * * * * *

@Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Ania is currently on tour, you can find all of her dates and venue information at – aniamagliano.com/see-me-live/