Sabre's rattling show

Forget Sienna Miller covering for Helen McCrory in As You Like It. The stand-in of the year has to be Sabre, the elegant Indian runner duck which replaced Daphne, missing, fowl play feared, on the eve of this frivolous new venture co-starring Sean Foley and Hamish McColl. Sabre, taking to the stage like, well, a duck to water, stole the show with every waddle.

As in their award-winning Morecambe & Wise homage, The Play What I Wrote, Foley and McColl's twist is the show-within-the-show as we witness both backstage trauma and onstage fun. No showbiz guests, however, though plenty in the audience - Roger Moore, Zoe Wanamaker, Jennifer Saunders and Richard Briers were laughing heartily.

This time the writerperformers draw inspiration from ultra-camp Las Vegas magicians Siegfried and Roy. If this goes to Broadway as their last production did, the Stateside recognition factor should help where the obscurity there of Eric and Ernie may have been a hindrance.

Under close scrutiny Ducktastic! is a bit of a muddle. The magic is overfamiliar, the musical numbers frankly forgettable and the groaninducing jokes frequently corn-fed. Yet somehow the sheer nerve of the cast and the undeniable knowing charm of the frequently sub-panto enterprise carries the day.

Director Kenneth Branagh has been particularly shrewd in ensuring that every door-slamming farcical exchange happens at a frenzied pace which means things never flag. Truly quickfire comedy.

The action centres on illusionist Christophe Ursula Sassoon (McColl) pairing with pet shop owner Roy de la Rue (Foley) to stage his greatest extravaganza. Can he finally hit the big-time and woo back the delightful Judith, the Debbie McGee to his Paul Daniels? With the aid of their magical bird it might just work.

An enthusiastic supporting cast has its moments - notably Clive Hayward as pushy usherette Tina's father Cliff in Little Britain-ish nude suit - but this is Foley and McColl's vehicle.

Foley is a delightfully rubber-limbed clown. McColl has more gravitas, though he is not averse to some bandy-legged cross-dressing.

Despite a queasy lowbudget Crackerjack feel to the triumphalist song and dance finale, choreographed by Mickey Rooney's son Michael and performed on a set designed by Alice Power that lacks Vegas glitz, this is a seductive send-up that makes you grin constantly for two hours.

Maybe not the peak of perfection, but certainly a wonderful webbed feat.

Ducktastic