This review first appeared in the Evening Standard here.

Angela Barnes is a rising star of the comedy circuit who does what every aspiring stand-up dreams of doing. She puts the audience immediately at their ease with her friendly, chatty style. It looks effortless. It takes talent and hard work.

The former nurse’s latest show, Come As You Are, is really two shows in one. The first half is what we have come to expect from Barnes — self-deprecating natter about disastrous dates, teaching her nan about Facebook and news of her latest ailments. She is currently being treated at a sports injury clinic for a back problem, despite being the least sporty person she knows.

At the halfway mark, however, she casually mentions that she spent time in a psychiatric ward as a teenager. Soon the monologue changes from easy humour to hard truths. Barnes is better now but has suffered in the past from mental health issues.

She proceeds to explain how she has dealt with what she dubs “uglyism” suggesting that being called “ugly”, which she clearly isn’t, is the last taboo. When she wrote an article about body image or tweeted about sexism the trolls attacked. Barnes is no pushover though. In a moving finale she reveals how she has fought back.

The gear change from gossipy frivolity to feminist theory is not completely seamless. As Barnes points out herself, there are not a lot of chuckles in certain places. But that hardly matters. What the show lacks in laughter it more than makes up for in heartfelt honesty.

More on Angela Barnes here.