Financial Times, 26 October 2005
By Sarah Hemming

Having gone down a storm with The Play What I Wrote, a tribute to Morecambe and Wise, Hamish McColl and Sean Foley turn their attention from men of mirth to men of magic: specifically Siegfried and Roy, whose lavish spectaculars were the toast of Las Vegas, until one of their famous white tigers mauled Roy. In this homage/spoof magic show, McColl and Foley give top billing to a small duck rather than a big cat.

Ducktastic satirises the world of extravaganzas, while still entertaining us with seriously good magic tricks. So the desperate antics of the characters produce an absurd farce that both exposes the tackiness and celebrates the bravado of showbiz. The story concerns a has- been magician (McColl, with bug eyes and a fixed smile), who hopes to woo his wife back with a spectacular. But things do not go to plan. He has to choose an audience member as assistant - one Roy Street (the absurdly lanky Foley), who takes to the sequins like a duck to water. Roy will not quit the limelight, and the show's internal logic starts to consume the characters: tricks are up- ended; an usherette and her family invade the stage; love proves to be the answer - though to what we are never quite sure.

The pleasure is the contrast between the anarchy on stage and the eye-popping sophistication of the tricks (by the aptly named Simon Drake). The show (directed by Kenneth Branagh) has a genial air, the pratfalls and puns are in generous supply, and McColl and Foley are compelling and likeable performers. The joke feels overstretched, but it is hard to dislike a show that manages to be both wide- eyed and sceptical and that has such mad panache. And that elegant duck should have her own website.