July 9, 2008

Home
Playbill Club
Discounts
Benefits
Join Club
Member Services
News
U.S./Canada
International
Tony Awards
Obituaries
Awards Roundup
All
Listings/Tickets
Broadway
Off-Broadway
Regional/Tours
London
Features
Week in Review
Broadway Grosses
On the Record
Stage to Screens
On Opening Night
Playbill Archives
Ask Playbill.com
Special Features
All
Playbill Store
Enter Store
Casting & Jobs
Job Listings
Post a Job
Celebrity Buzz
Diva Talk
Brief Encounter
The Leading Men
Cue and A
Onstage & Backstage
Who's Who
Insider Info
Playbill Digital
Multimedia
Video
Interactive
Polls
Quizzes
Contests
Theatre Central
Sites
Connections
Reference
Awards Database
Seating Charts
Restaurants
Hotels
FAQs

RSS News Feed


News: International
Related Information
Email this Article Email this Article
Printer-friendly Printer-friendly
London's Ducktastic Ducks Out Early, After Only One Month

By James Inverne
03 Nov 2005

It's an oft-quoted adage in the theatre, that one should "never work with animals or small children" because they're unpredictable and because they upstage you.

Kenneth Branagh and the comic double-act The Right Size have certainly found this to be true with their new show, Ducktastic. There was an unplanned duck audience invasion at an early performance I attended. Lead duck Daphne was reportedly ducknapped from the stage door, opening night was delayed due to duck training problems, and now the show has posted early closing notices.

A follow-up to their successful The Play What I Wrote (again produced by David Pugh), this was hyped as a worthy successor to the Morcambe and Wise tribute, even repeating the trick of modeling the major characters on showbiz legends. This time round, The Right Size (aka Sean Foley and Hamish McColl) with director Branagh focused on Las Vegas illusionists Siegfried and Roy. In the show, playing at the Albery, two Blackpool duck disappearers are hapless copies of the more famous duo.

Reviews were mixed but far from universally damning. However, the duck never showed the kind of box-office pull that was the case with Play's, which featured surprise guest celebs (Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Kylie Minogue and Glenn Close were among dozens of guests lining up to be ridiculed).

Early closing notices have been posted, and the doors will shut on Nov. 19. Remaining tickets will see prices cut to only ten pounds.

For more information call (0)870 060 6621.



Keyword:

Features/Location:

Writer:

 


advanced search

Free Membership
Exclusive Ticket Discounts
Join

NEWEST DISCOUNTS
The Country Girl
Some Americans Abroad
Grease
Summertime Classics
Damn Yankees
A Catered Affair
Naked Boys Singing
Thurgood
Title of Show
The 39 Steps

ALSO SAVE ON BROADWAY'S BEST
A Chorus Line
August: Osage County
Boeing-Boeing
Cirque Dreams
Gypsy
Spamalot
Title of Show
Xanadu
Young Frankenstein

and more!



Newest features from PlaybillArts.com:

New York Philharmonic: New York’s Hometown Orchestra

Photo Journal: Doktor Faust at the Munich Opera Festival

Click here for more classical music, opera, and dance features.


· Schedule of Upcoming Broadway Shows
· Schedule of Upcoming Off-Broadway Shows
· Broadway Rush and Standing Room Only Policies
· Long Runs on Broadway
· Weekly Schedule of Current Broadway Shows
· Upcoming Cast Recordings
· Hit Show Ticket Tips
· Broadway's July 4th Performance Schedule Changes


Click here to see all of the latest polls !


Email this page to a friend!