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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
The best medicine
JAMES WALSH is therapeutically disrobed by a disarmingly attentive exploration of harsh truths and nonsense
BJORK-ESQUE ELFIN ALIEN: Julia Masli [Andy Hollingworth]

Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Soho Theatre

Can a clown save the world? 

This probably wasn’t what Julia Masli, an Estonian performer trained by the notorious Parisian pedagogue Philippe Gaulier, had set out to achieve with her latest. Still, you never know. Masli always aims high, with seemingly limitless reserves of care, poise, and life-affirming naivete.

And after an hour of this staggering, beautiful, and heartfelt show, your correspondent is a convert to the idea of free Masli on the NHS. It’s called ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, but it was never supposed to be funny — or so its author claims. Instead, a Bjork-esque elfin alien, Masli in a typically ludicrous outfit, attempts to solve the audience’s problems, whether big or small, serious or inconsequential.

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