Nina Conti proved the ultimate puppet master in Perth, masterfully ensuring her audience was eating out of her latex character-clad hands during a riotous Festival of the Arts performance.
From the moment she stepped on stage with her delightfully sweary monkey puppet, she blew away any pre-conceptions about ventriloquists.
Her opening dialogue with the foul-mouthed simian poked fun at traditional end-of-the-pier routines and set up an energetic, sometimes frantic routine which tipped into the surreal at times.
Through Monkey, and her “grandmother”, a sassy OAP with a unique world view, Conit grabbed the audience and refused to let go.
The Perth public was delighted to be putty in her hands.
A large part of Conti’s act relies on audience members acting as “living puppets”, clad in half-face masks which Conti can artfully control to, literally, put her words in their mouths.
It is a conceit which would fall flat if the chosen victims are not willing to play along but there is little danger of that in a show driven by Conti’s improvisational skills and sense of sheer fun.
The set-piece highlight saw a retired engineer join Conti from the front row to moonwalk across the stage as his timid gardening-loving wife repeatedly threatened to bury him.
It was not what they would have expected their night to go when they arrived at Perth Concert Hall.
But nothing is as expected in Nina Conti’s bizarre world.
@ninaconti the show was hilarious tonight, sides still sore from laughing so much.
— kirsty-anne mcmahon (@woollywool) May 26, 2016
LOVED @ninaconti 's show in #Perth tonight – haven't laughed so hard in ages
— Becca McClune (@beccajberger) May 26, 2016
Absolutely hilarious fun @ninaconti tonight at @HorsecrossPerth #loveventriloquism
— Tricia Fox (@volpagirl) May 26, 2016
@ninaconti Absolutely fantastic show tonight in Perth. Hilarious! Amazing talent! ?????
— Ronnie Mollison (@ronniemollison) May 26, 2016
