Interview

Ducktastic Q&A evening

by Alex Peppis
19/10/2005

Monday October 17 was again an exciting date in the lastminute.com calendar with the entertaining cast of Ducktastic taking time out of their busy schedules to be interrogated by our faithful theatre customers during the official lastminute.com exclusive Q&A evening.

After being wowed by the marvelously camp comedy (and Al Pacino's narration) we moved to the front to enjoy lastminute.com's 3rd half. The cast returned to the stage for the grilling that was the Q and A. The producer of Ducktastic David Pugh led the evening with a brief insight into how he met and came to know the 2 stars, Hamish McColl and Sean Foley. After the insightful history of the staff David opened up the questioning to the audience, and the question on everyone's lips were answered...

Q. Why on earth Ducks?

David Pugh: Well, when we decided to create a comedy/magic act we travelled to other shows for insight into magic as this was something new to us. When in Las Vegas we saw Siegfried and Roy (before the accident) and they use Big animals - most famously the Tigers. So we wanted an animal, but something a little more safer, endearing and most importantly camp. So we fell upon the duck. There was also a cut scene in which Christophe Ursula Sasson, loses his dangerous animal licence and so is only allowed to use a duck.

Q. How does the Ducktastic Website work? I had great difficulty in accessing it.

All: Duck Knows!

Q. There were some very impressive magic tricks, how on earth did you know what/how to do them?

Hamish McColl: We were very lucky to have a magic coach advising us - Simon Drake from the TV series 'Secret Camera'.

Q. Any duck mishaps?

Sean Foley: Yes, one ran me over in a car the other day! No, all our ducks are supplied and trained by Birds and Animals UK - they even have the biggest dressing room.

Q. After the success of 'The Play What I Wrote' are you upset of the rubbish that is often on TV?

Sean Foley: Erm, well, we can only ever control what we do and what we put out, and we love what we do and hope you do too. We would love to do TV one day, but we're focussing on this at the moment.

Q. Are Siegfried and Roy going to visit?

Hamish McColl: We'd love it if they could!

Q. Kenneth, what DID you do to direct this?!

Kenneth Branagh: I ask myself every day! No, but really I thoroughly enjoy it. We argue about which gags to include and which to leave out. I was brought onto 'The Play What I Wrote' as more of a 'third eye', which is very similar to what i'm doing here. It's more of an editorial job as Hamish and Sean are excellent in what they do. The play changes nearly every night with new gags or tricks, Hamish and Sean are constantly figuring new ways to do things and never rest.

Q. Any surprising reactions from the audience?

Hamish McColl: Yes, the magic. As all our previous shows have been comedy acts. As a comedian you're trying to make the audience laugh. But by the very nature of magic it stuns people and leaves this silence. We're not used to this so we try and introduce a joke straight after a trick to get that laughter back.

Q. Have you eaten duck since?

All. Oh yes, every night!

Q. How do the other actors feel with constant changes?

All: It's a challenge, but we love it.

Q. Is there a future in America?

David Pugh: I'm not too sure, as I don't think the 'Morecambe and Wise' humour would work over in America. I could be absolutely wrong, we'd have to see. Of course we'd love to go anywhere where people would have us.

Q. Who's easier to motivate, the actors or the ducks?

Kenneth Branagh: The actors are great and wonderful to work with. The ducks are also wonderful - however, they tend to improvise a bit too often!

Q. What happened with the story about animal rights activists that was in the papers recently?

David Pugh: Firstly, let me point out that every possibility is made to make sure the ducks are treated ok and aren't distressed in any way. PETA wrote to us about their dismay at using ducks within a show. We brought in a vet who spent 3 days analysing the show and how the ducks were treated and we worked closely to change parts of the show to make sure they were ok. We have now been approved by the RSPCB. However, PETA did threaten to demonstrate and so we invited them along to see the show and the backstage area for the ducks. PETA were then happy for the show to continue.

Q. Why did you put the press night back 2 nights?

David Pugh: To be honest the end trick (the grande finale) only arrived on Sunday. It had been tailor made for us. So we wanted a bit more time to practice and refine that part of the show.

Q. How do you get the ducks to move along?

David Pugh: We have lots of trainers who spend a lot of the time with the ducks. I'm not sure if you heard during the show but we also have them in the wings making 'peep' sounds and dropping food for them.

Q. How many Ducks do you have?

David Pugh: We have 42 ducks.

Q. Why so many?

David Pugh: 21 for matinees 21 for evening.

With that the audience ruffled their feathers and braved the winter air home.

Needless to say, if you're after a great 3rd half at the theatre, keep an eye out for our Q&A evenings, you don't get any closer to the West End stars than this.