Equine Illusionists Andy and Andy (“It’s a family thing”) aka The Famous McCuddy Brothers are inundated with offers. The King’s is calling, the Pavilion appalling. Sorry, appealing for their services. So why the long face? “No one wants panto horses anymore,” bemoans Big Andy (Andy Cannon) to “I’m the wee one, you want the big one” Wee Andy (Andy Manley). Much to their disappointment, Jack and the Beanstalk is back in vogue and Daisy the Cow rules the roost. Well, byre!

Reduced to living on a breakfast of five Cocoa Pops each sans milk, the two Andys are forced to sell their car and worldly possessions at the side of Maybury Roundabout to make ends meet. “Maybe we should just give up”, “What else would we do?”, “All it takes is one phone call”. The never-ending soundtrack of doubt which runs through the mind of many a struggling artist.

“I don’t like it!” says Wee Andy as he falls off their tandem at the beginning of the play. To which his big brother replies: “Just get back on the saddle.” One of the recurring themes of the play, along with “Remember to be kind and gentle at all times”, co-created by Cannon, Manley and designer Shona Reppe in a joint production between the Traverse Theatre and Red Bridge Arts which is coming to the end of an 11 venue tour after premiering at the Traverse Theatre last December.

But this is no “woe is me” tale sponsored by Gillette. For summoning up the spirit of Laurel and Hardy, The Famous McCuddy Brothers lift their spirits and raise the roof with a comical retelling of Anna Sewell’s one and only best-selling novel Black Beauty (their mother’s favourite) which they discovered in her belongings along with a pair of handbags and a bell. All of which and more are utilised to masterful effect, along with rhyming couplets, silly slapstick, nifty footwork and a conveyor belt of puns which are so bad they’re good. “Tree-mendous!” grins Big Andy after a spot of audience participation during which a forest of little limbs recreate a spooky wood, followed by a pun-tastic apology for the the “old oak!”

However, as they start to uncover some of the darker elements of the novel such as cruelty, neglect, loneliness and death, Big Andy gently reminds us that: “Not everything has a happy ending.” But as their late mother used to say, “There will be good days and there will be bad days, but you’ll always have each other.” And judging by the warm round of applause after the final “modern re-imagining of the story” by none other than Steven Spielberg, The Famous McCuddy Brothers like Black Beauty are hot to trot!

Peter Callaghan
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