If you want to be surrounded by a whole audience laughing
out loud then seeing Nina Conti on stage is a must!
I first discovered Nina Conti on the BBC stand-up comedy
programme Live at the Apollo, where she performed a hilarious act with a
ventriloquist puppet called Monkey and a dummy mask routine.
I had tried to book tickets for her show at The Lowry but
they had sold out within hours, so I kept my fingers crossed that I would be
given the opportunity to review by What's Good To Do.
We decided to make our visit to The Lowry a ‘date’ night and
first visited Pizza Express which is next door to the theatre; there are lots
of food and drink venues right next to the theatre if you want to make a night
of it.
Reading other reviews of her show we knew there was going to
be lots of audience interaction and that every show is unique as Nina uses
improvisation to create a different comedy experience every night.
My other half was hoping we didn’t get tickets on the front
row, as it happens it seemed that the whole of the front row had been double
booked so there was some kafuffle whilst the theatre manager negotiated with
the guests, although it would seem that quite a few were not happy with having
to take seats elsewhere.
The show starts with Nina’s sidekick Monkey appearing out of
her oversized bag and warming up the audience with a Q&A session, allowing
Nina the opportunity to get to know her audience and I presume begin to choose
those who will become her life-sized ventriloquist dummies!
The live puppets included a police officer, medical student
and lawyer as well as Monkey’s favourite audience member Alan who got an awful
lot of stick for being a financial advisor for sales of fire protection
equipment! As they donned their masks that Nina controls, their personalities
through the eyes of Nina came alive, every one of them seemed to enjoy the
experience despite the embarrassment!
If you think you are safe in your seats at the back of the
theatre then think twice as Nina was not afraid to select a guest from the very
top of the theatre to come and join her on stage.
The show involved improvisation, ventriloquism and audience
participation of the extreme and I would recommend anyone who likes to smile to
book their tickets!
It is not very often that I actually physically belly laugh
and have tears streaming down my face but that’s what Nina achieved.
Laugh out loud funny
Ruthie x
