London's Ducktastic Ducks Out Early, After Only One Month

By James Inverne
November 3, 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.

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