Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
A night at the theatre can mean many different things to different people. To educate, to entertain, to allow a sarcastic monkey the reason to be adored are perhaps just three out of a multitude of reasons that the crowd who piled in with beaming faces and who left the Playhouse Theatre in a state of comedy fulfilment would have come to see and take part in.
Nina Conti is unlike any other entertainer on the circuit; she has the same attributes as many of her fellow performer, her willingness to allow the inner laughing child the room to be seen and laughed alongside with is as heartening as watching any comedian worth their salt. However it is the way she brings her show to life that surely catapults her stage act and personal way of carrying through the act of ventriloquism that makes her such a start.
The audience at the Playhouse Theatre, having found themselves once more at the start of another exciting theatrical season, were treated to show that not only gave them the very best of modern ventriloquists but one that dug deep into the psyche of why such an act is hugely popular. For anyone who was privileged to watch the B.B.C. programme, Her Master’s Voice during 2013, the art of the performance, the social aspect of having an audience believe that a monkey can talk, that the psychological point of having audience members on the stage mouthing the words of the ridiculous and beautiful, all is clear and if it isn’t then a night with Nina Conti is not only be advised but be enjoyed in all its glory.
The act of belief is a strong one, it has to be with ventriloquism, in the same way that radio audiences believed, and despite not even being able to see the doll at all, in Educating Archie, so too must they believe without hesitation that the inner voice must be allowed free reign at times. The voice of the sarcastic and the politely rude, of the ironic and the beautifully discourteous and at times even the self chatting up and flirtation between puppet and master, it is a voice that must be allowed to speak its mind and in Nina Conti, there is none better around.
A tremendous evening made even more special with the routine of two of Ms. Conti’s willing victims, the two Daves, having the guts to be used in such spectacular fashion and with excellent theatrical results. A night of absolute conviction and belief; Nina Conti is a true master.
Ian D. Hall