Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The audience that recently made their way down to the Playhouse Theatre in Liverpool to watch one of the leading lights in the art of ventriloquism may or not have watched a particular programme tucked away on B.B.C. Television during the summer of 2012 on Nina Conti and her relationship with British theatre maverick Ken Campbell and the secondary bond with her mentor’s voice and dolls.
The art of ventriloquism is either one that astounds and amazes or one that baffles and leaves cold and yet throughout Nina Conti: Her Master’s Voice, television audiences were treated to another side of the art, the love that the artist has for the genre, and when something of that love dies, when you find all you are doing is talking to voices long since dead, is it something that can arguably be seen as a near bipolar experience.
Nina Conti’s experience as she went on a personal journey of discovery that would lead to Vent Haven in America was at times threatening to turn into a traumatic event in which for all intent purposes was seeing her teacher/lover/friend being buried for a second time as she gave all his collection of speechless puppets to the museum which looks after the dolls of dead ventriloquists. This was other side of the coin from the Nina Conti that theatre and television audiences had come to love and respect, this was a Ms. Conti who even considered giving up the art, her act, and the pain in parts was almost voyeuristic as the camera allowed the audience to delve deep into her psyche. The image of the late Ken Campbell forever tantalisingly hovering close, as captured moments of conversation played across time and the life like face on one particular doll almost taking the documentary too far.
However, the humour of Ms. Conti’s craft shone through as she and her irreverent monkey wowed crowds in a ventriloquist convention , and in amongst some incredible performers, showed just how much the faith bestowed upon her by Ken Campbell was rightly and fully deserved.
Nina Conti: Her Master’s Voice is a fascinating insight into the art form, into Nina Conti herself and above all the psyche of all those who find themselves gifted with this incredible talent.
Ian D. Hall