This review first appeared in the Evening Standard here. Nina Conti returns to the Criterion Theatre for another run from September 7 - 17. Tickets here.

Ventriloquism might not be hip but it is certainly hot. Last autumn Londoner Paul Zerdin bagged a million dollars by winning America’s Got Talent and last night Nina Conti’s first West End run opened. Talking without moving your lips is suddenly something to shout about.

In Your Face is a frequently mind-blowing mix of script and improvisation. As usual Conti’s co-star is Monk, the manky monkey with attitude. Together they blur the line between puppet and puppet-meister. Monk will say something smutty, she will appear shocked. Corny, yet it works.

The real magic, however, is when Conti invites audience members up and transforms them into human dummies with the aid of masks that she operates. It is an old trick — Zerdin does it too — but one that Conti executes with finesse, expertly orchestrating the cartoonish chaos. It helps if the victims are uninhibited, though as the quick-witted voice-thrower said to trainee solicitor Nick, “You can do no wrong”. She can do no wrong either, pulling off complex routines that must take extraordinary levels of concentration.

If you want sheer escapist entertainment this fits the bill. You will see nothing like it onstage this year. Unless you see Paul Zerdin.

More on Nina Conti here.