Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is something of the endearing quality to Nina Conti and her ventriloquist act that just makes the audience fall in love with her. The rather special talent that drives a person to perform with a sarcastic monkey or an eight year old inner child on their arms and get away with the most irreverent sayings all in the case of entertainment is one to admired and nurtured.

The ability to get someone else to speak your words, your most sardonic and yet beautifully timed responses is one that is at all fascinating and long revered. From the musical hall days to the hit radio show that starred Tony Hancock, the phenomenally successful Educating Archie, to more modern techniques and better puppetry, of which Nina Conti appears to be more adept than almost anyone, the distant voice is one that continues to thrill audiences and have them completely thrown by the ability.

As Nina Conti goes through her foam based guests, each one impertinent, saucy and delightful, there is the air of increasing laughter that hangs in the ether from the audience, the astounded sheer disbelief of Ms. Conti’s fantastic act which starts with a naughty monkey, follows through to a dog demanding biscuits, searching for his brother and with a particular cruel streak which in lesser hands could be destructive to perhaps her most famous accomplice on stage, her nan who not only has the remarkable gift of clairvoyance but who also scolds Ms. Conti in a way that no puppet should be allowed to get away with. Each puppet is received with a near reverence and her latest giant sized one based on a builder who flirted with her was a particular favourite, especially as it required one audience member to control the arms and legs, once more causing the audience to laugh like they have never laughed before.

To watch Nina Conti on stage is to wish that you could also do what she does so marvellously well, but then again there is only one Nina Conti, there is only one woman who can make a Liverpool audience laugh as much as this with a monkey giving her and the audience grief, and long may it stay that way. A talented woman who defines the art form!

Ian D. Hall