Ventriloquism at dizzy heights

Bringing ventriloquism to places it has never been before, and probably never wanted to go to in the first place, American Strassman succeeds in exorcising all the "gottle of geer" demons from the art-form. Part "alternative", part slick Las Vegas extravaganza, Strassman and his array of puppets put on a highly entertaining show that rather bizarrely, but effectively, mixes foul-mouthed vernacular with old-time music hall material.

Strassman's main mouthpiece, a scabrous puppet called Chuck Wood, disabused any members of the audience early on that this was going to be some sort of Sooty and Sweep affair. With gags about oral sex and the like, he set a pungent tone and was constantly re-introduced into the action whenever the script was becoming just a bit too formulaic.

By clever contrast, another puppet called Ted E. Bear, played the "good cop" to Chuck's bad - slow, half-witted but with a charm of his own, Ted E. came close to stealing a show that also featured an amazing array of dinosaurs singing in perfect choreographed fashion to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Strassman's technique is faultless and the finale is quite stunning. The script could do with a bit of tightening up but only in the odd place. Overall though, this is mightily impressive work.

David Strassman is at The Olympia Theatre (8 p.m.) nightly until Saturday 25th then plays the Ulster Hall, Belfast, on the 26th April.