"During Nina Conti’s magical production, one becomes entranced by the measure of her phenomenal ventriloquism which is nonpareil…Conti in her New York premiere is flashy, edgy, explosive, daring, ahead of the ventriloquism curve, mind-blowing, singular, jarring, hysterical, shimmering, ironic, iconic and a spinning whirligig of fun. You will miss an exceptional evening (or two or three for each night is unique) if you let this production slip by without seeing it."
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"Unlike ventriloquists of yore who did ba-DUM-bum jokes, Nina’s an uncensored riffer. With the help of Monkey, she gets to be naughty and nice at the same time...It’s a dichotomy that works stunningly well and keeps both the audience and the performer in stitches. Laughter is infectious...I’ve seen other shows with 'improvised' bits before. But Nina Conti is something else entirely...Masterful and side-splitting."
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"Although it appears to be completely effortless, she works hard to turn the pejorative profession around and succeeds with flying colors...Never before has a nylon hand puppet been so simultaneously creepy and hilarious...Conti astonishes with her dexterity, both physically and vocally...Though derisive on the surface, she clearly enjoys laughing with her audience rather than at them and the result is a win/win situation...A quick but incredibly worthwhile night of entertainment."
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"Conti will make you literally laugh your face off with her combination of voice throwing, improvisation, and mask manipulation. You are not going to see anything like this for ages…It’s an early holiday season gift…Nina Conti arrives on stage with enough inner sunshine to light up the 50,000 lights on the 94-foot Norway Spruce at Rockefeller Center…There’s no script, only a skill set that leaves you in awe."
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"Not only is Conti a brilliantly skilled ventriloquist and voice thrower, but she is able to improv and riff in different languages and dialects, creating vivid and varied characters...Conti has brilliantly imagined scenarios for herself and her monkey who is controlled by her...This mostly improvised show is true mastery and different every night...Conti is lovely and gracious enough to share the stage, creating a personal atmosphere that leaves the audience feeling like they are old friends."
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"She asks a girl from the front row onstage and attaches a mask to her face. The mask is operated with a pump so that Conti can move the mouth in time with the voice that she has given the girl. The participation is playful, absolutely hilarious and never mean…'In Your Face’ is such a clever and inventive show. While the ventriloquism is what makes it really unique, Nina Conti also boasts excellent improvisation skills. Not to be missed!"
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"It helps that she’s thrown out most of the baggage that accrued to this once-naff art form: the creepiness, the stiffness, the tragic co-dependency. Handy, too, that she’s filled the breach with sass and straight-talk, alongside tonal variety and a ruthless self-awareness. More than that, Conti restlessly pushes at what can be done with her vocal skill…Conti just picks up on her volunteers’ body language and, before you know it, personalities develop and scenarios unfold."
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"To improvise alone, spinning off a multi-character narrative from the merest tics requires both technical mastery and the leap of faith in your abilities not to think about any of that to impulsively work in the moment. That Conti achieves this so apparently effortlessly, generating uncomplicated laughs from a complicated set-up, is a triumph...There’s a peculiarly half-hearted ending...But when she’s masterminding mayhem, the show’s a joy."
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