The first half of this presentation was a film screening of BAFTA-nominated ‘docu-mockumentary’ Her Master’s Voice, which charts Nina’s journey to a ventriloquist convention in America. It’s a revealing, poignant and often very funny documentary that provides insights into the artform, and a moving tribute to her mentor, the late Ken Campbell. She travels with the bereaved puppets she has inherited from Ken, one of which she must choose to donate to the Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky. Despite an element of wry mockery at the gaudy excesses of American culture, there are some insightful and charming interviews with the performers she meets there, which reveal much about the particular skills and schizophrenic mindset of the ventriloquist.

Through frequent interactions with her puppet companions, Conti herself comes across as quirky, sincere, and full of humility. There are certainly many moments of warm humour, but it is strangely surprising during the live performance that follows to be so overwhelmed by the full force of her weird comedic genius. During the film she refers to Ken’s assertion that madness is very close to creativity, and that the skill of the artist is to quieten or bypass the gatekeeper to the mind. It is this facility that Conti demonstrates to brilliant and baffling effect throughout the largely improvised hour of performance.

Through the Monkey puppet that ‘co-hosts’ the show, she seems to be channelling a blunt and grumpy aspect of her personality – and to be genuinely surprised and sometimes alarmed by the things he comes out with. At one point, Monkey puts her into a trance and answers audience questions. It requires a purposeful effort to remind oneself that it’s the motionless woman with head bowed that is actually doing the talking, so convincing is the effect.

Much of the rest of the performance is taken up with audience participation using a range of half-masks with mechanical mouths she operates via a short lead. These she attaches to participants mostly chosen from the front row with whom she and Monkey have earlier chatted. Based on details she/ they have picked up, and responding to their expressions and gestures, she follows the skewed logic of her own imagination to lead us into ridiculous, delightful conversations.  The format seems simple enough, but the effect is deeply and continuously hilarious. She also explores myriad possibilities, at one point getting one person to operate their own mask, voiced by her, whilst she coaxes another through an expressive dance routine. She has someone else operate Monkey, who provides a jaded commentary on the indignity of the experience.

If one were to video and analyse the details of her improvisations, they would surely discover a whole world of technical complexity, but on the surface it just seems to occur like a naturally unfolding series of actions and words that were always destined to happen. I actually stopped scribbling in my notebook midway through the show because I wasn’t going to allow my concern to remember all the details interrupt the joy of my experience.