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Nina Conti

Christopher Guest

Nina Conti - A Ventriloquist's Story: Her Master's Voice

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10/06/2012

BBC Four - Nina Conti - A Ventriloquist's Story: Her Master's Voice

Nina Conti takes the puppets of her mentor Ken Campbell on a pilgrimage to Vent Haven.

Documentary following Nina Conti as she takes the bereaved puppets of her mentor Ken Campbell on a pilgrimage to Vent Haven, the resting place for puppets of dead ventriloquists.

Internationally acclaimed ventriloquist Nina Conti, takes the bereaved puppets of her mentor and erstwhile lover Ken Campbell on a pilgrimage to Vent Haven, the resting place for puppets of dead ventriloquists. She gets to know her latex and wooden travelling partners along the way, and with them deconstructs herself and her lost love in this ventriloquial docu-mocumentary requiem.

Ken Campbell was a hugely respected maverick of the British theatre, an eccentric genius who would snort out forgotten artforms. Nina was his prodigy in ventriloquism and has been said to have reinvented the artform. This film is truly unique in genre and style. No one has seen ventriloquism like this before.

Nina Conti's funny, highly original and poignant documentary, takes us on two journeys. A personal journey, and a professional one, through the strange, surprising and often hilarious world of ventriloquism. When Nina was just another twenty-something wannabe actress, Ken presented her with a teach-yourself ventriloquism kit. This set her on a path to becoming a sell-out act in Britain and abroad, with a clutch of major awards.

On the road, Nina brings all the puppets to life as struggles to meet the conflicting demands of her old acerbic partner Monkey, and the new characters she has been bequeathed. But one puppet remains silent. Ken's doll of himself sits mournful and judgemental in the hotel bedroom. Nina cannot find her master's voice and until she does, she will not be able to lay her old life to rest.

Never has watching someone talk to themselves been this interesting.

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