A new black comedy tale of marital strife and bunny murder comes to
Park Theatre from Joe Hampson, the writer of Skins, The News Quiz & Newsjack who makes his stage writing debut with Rabbits. An exploration of contemporary sexual politics, Rabbits follows the fallout as Frank prepares to save his and Susan's marriage by taking their pet rabbit to be murdered - by a psychopath. With caustic jokes and abominable intentions, the production will run 26 July - 19 August 2017, with an official press night on Friday 28 July.
The production will star
Alex Ferns (Legend, The Legend of Tarzan, EastEnders) and David Schaal (The Inbetweeners, The Office), with additional casting to be announced.
When Frank asks a stranger to kill his pet rabbit, it appears to be an isolated act of desperation, mania and warped logic. However, as Frank and Susan delve into their issues and try to repair their spiraling marriage, we see their private lives unravel and the initial bunny slaying takes on a whole new dimension, revealing what is really at the heart of their relationship.
Joe Hampson said: "Since starting out working on shows about teenage relationships and then moving on to write about more mature, complex and irregular ones, the same question always appears: what is it that is keeping these people together? As our collective understanding of sexual politics and the makeup of relationships has taken a dramatic step away from traditional ideas of heteronormative monogamy, it is interesting to question what drives two or more people to intertwine their lives and what it takes to sustain that commitment, whatever form the relationship takes."
Rabbits is directed by
Sadie Spencer, whose directing credits include: Cautionary Kate (King's Head Theatre); Albee Vector the Sound Collector (tour with House Theatre Network, Bristol Old Vic); and Seeing Double (Pleasance, Camden People's Theatre). She was a finalist in the 2017 JMK competition and her associate credits include: What's in a Name (Birmingham Rep,
Jeremy Sams) and Outside Mullingar (Ustinov Studio,
Sam Yates).
David Schaal's theatre credits includes: American Justice (Arts Theatre), Beggars Bush (Globe Theatre/Latitude Festival), Brotherly Love (Edinburgh Festival), The Roman Bath (Arcola Theatre), and Cyrano De Bergerac (Manchester Royal Exchange). His television appearances include: The Inbetweeners (Ch4), Fearless (ITV), Frontier (Netflix), We The Jury (BBC), Modern Toss (Ch4), Ashes To Ashes (BBC), The IT Crowd (Ch4), Doc Martin (BBC), and The Office (BBC). His film credits include: The Inbetweeners Movie, 101 Year Old Man, Fallen, The Inbetweeners 2, Pirates - In An Adventure with Scientists, and Kidulthood.
Alex Ferns' theatre credits include: Out There On Fried Meat Ridge and The Father (Trafalgar Studios), True West (Tricycle), South Pacific (Barbican), The Hard Man (King's Theatre), Guys & Dolls (West End), ID (
Almeida Theatre) and Coyote On A Fence (West End/Royal Exchange. Alex's screen credits include: Romans (Dreamscape), Legend (
Working Title Films), Tarzan (
Warner Brothers), Hot Property (Fortune Films), Joyeux Noel (Nord-oust Prod), River City (BBC), Taboo (BBC), Wallander (BBC & Left Bank), The Passing Bells (BBC), 24: Live Another Day (Sky 1/Netflix), The Widower (ITV) and Low Winter Sun (Channel 4). Alex is of course also well known for his role as Trevor Morgan in EastEnders.
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