Paulina Lenoir @ Assembly Roxy

The conceit of this new show from Swiss-Mexican clown, theatremaker and designer Paulina Lenoir is Puella Eterna's presentation of her poetic magnus opus – a story stretching from birth to death. Lenoir's aesthetic is superb, her alter ego an imperious presence adorned in beautiful fabrics. It's undoubtedly a fabulous spectacle but the show itself is rather slight.

The costumes are gorgeously frothy concoctions – and it's fitting that they get to share the stage with Lenoir, hanging up in wait for their moment in Puella Eterna's life story. The lilac of childhood, the crimson of young adulthood, the sky-blue of age; masses of tulle, fountains of frills. The visual language borrows freely from the campy Hollywood glamour of the early 60s, with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? a particular touchstone.

Lenoir's rendering of babyhood is a high point: inventive, very funny, and she hits that clowning sweet spot with a moment of potentially risky audience participation that is perversely adorable. Other moments of audience involvement don't feel fully bedded in: at one point she says faintly, 'I have to eat something', and it seems more like an arbitrary hook for participation than something that emerges from the story or the character. That being said, a tupperware box of Thai curry was a beautifully incongruous offering from this particular audience – and perhaps the contrast of Puella Eterna's fabulousness and the mundanity of food is what Lenoir is counting on.

The comparisons with Julia Masli are unavoidable given Lenoir's rich, resonant voice, and the summoning of an otherworldly femininity. While the extravagance of the aesthetic does mark out a clear difference, she doesn't fully distinguish herself, and the clowning sometimes lacks the precision and variety of Masli’s work.

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Paulina Lenoir: Puella Eterna, Assembly Roxy (Downstairs), until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 10pm, £7.50-12.50