Kathy Burke to Direct THE RETREAT at Park Theatre

Park Theatre will host the World Premiere of new comedy drama The Retreat, the first play by BAFTA award-winning writer Sam Bain, directed by Kathy Burke, playing in PARK200 from Thursday 2 November to Saturday 2 December 2017.

Luke, a former high-flyer from the City, is sitting in a remote stone hut halfway up a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. He is on a meditation retreat, searching for the inner peace that so far has eluded him. The trouble is, not only will his mind not settle, but an uninvited guest arrives - his obnoxious older brother, Tony. Is Tony everything that's wrong with Luke's old life, or is he the only one who can really see into his soul? And is Luke's quest for spirituality a way of transforming himself, or is it just another form of addiction? The Retreat is a sharp new comedy drama about a world where we can never escape ourselves, or find ourselves either.

Sam Bain, with Jesse Armstrong, has co-created and co-written nine series of the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, winning BAFTA, British Comedy, Royal Television Society and Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards. Sam is also co-creator of Channel 4 comedy drama Fresh Meat which ran for four series and won a British Comedy Award. Film writing includes Four Lions, co-written with Chris Morris, which premiered at Sundance and won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut. Sam's first solo series Ill Behaviour will premiere on BBC iPlayer before being broadcast on BBC Two this Summer.

Kathy Burke is a director, actor and writer, well known for television work including Ab Fab, Harry Enfield and Chums and Gimme Gimme Gimme, for which she won a British Comedy Award. Film work includes Absolutely Fabulous the Movie, Pan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Nil By Mouth, for which she won Best Actress at Cannes. Work as a theatre director includes Betty (Vaudeville Theatre), Kosher Harry (Royal Court), Out in the Open and Born Bad (Hampstead Theatre), Blue/Orange (Sheffield Crucible), The God of Hell (Donmar Warehouse), Smaller (Lyric Theatre) and The Quare Fellow and Once a Catholic (Tricycle Theatre).

The Retreat is written by Sam Bain and directed by Kathy Burke. Set and Costume Design is by Paul Wills with Lighting Design by Paul Keogan and Sound Design by John Leonard. It is produced by Debbie Hicks and Jesse Romain in association with Park Theatre.

Casting is to be announced.

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