Yasmine Akram (Tara), Samuel Anderson (Luke) and Adam Deacon (Tony) in The Retreat (Photo: Craig Sugden)

Casting announced for Kathy Burke’s The Retreat

First Published 29 September 2017, Last Updated 29 September 2017

Casting is announced today for the world premiere of new comedy drama The Retreat, the first play by Peep Show and Fresh Meat co-creator Sam Bain, directed by Ab Fab and Gimme Gimme Gimme’s Kathy Burke.

Adam Deacon (best known for playing the lead role of Jay in films Kidulthood and Adulthood) will play Tony, Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink in Doctor Who) will play Luke, and Yasmine Akram (Janine in Sherlock) will play Tara.

The Retreat follows Luke, a former high-flyer from the City, as he sits 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.

The Retreat is written by Sam Bain, who 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.

The show is directed by Kathy Burke, who as an actor is well known for television work including Ab Fab, Harry Enfield And Chums and Gimme Gimme Gimme, for which she won a British Comedy Award.

The show will play at Park Theatre from Thursday 2 November to Saturday 2 December 2017.

Tickets can be booked through the Park Theatre website.

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