REVIEW: THE RETREAT by Sam Bain at White Bear Theatre 9 - 13 April 2024

‘belly laughs galore’ ★★★★

Room One Theatre Company bring an adaptation of this brilliant comedy by Sam Bain, (BAFTA Award-winning co-writer and co-creator of Peep Show, Fresh Meat and Four Lions), to White Bear Theatre.  Choosing to bring a new production to a pub theatre before taking it on tour has become vogue at this venue.   Catch it now and enjoy two expert actors riffing off each other in this tale of brothers who couldn’t be more different. Expect belly laughs galore. 

We meet Luke (Jed McLoughlin) at a retreat in the Scottish Highlands, enjoying the serenity of a peaceful life when brother Tony turns up, agitated and talking ten to the dozen. Ostensibly he’s arrived to make an intervention and bring his younger brother back into the real world. He finds out that Luke has plans to become a Buddhist Monk and eschew all worldly things including carnality. Meantime a third character Tara (Cara Heal) comes into the equation, with her ambition to make the retreat a more permanent site.   It’s immediately clear that Luke has taken a shine to her, something which Tony jumps upon as evidence that Luke isn’t ready for spiritual commitment.   

As the plot unfolds, we see the rift between the two brothers. Whilst Luke has been something successful in the city, Tony has been a downright failure.  A familiar pattern unfolds, with one brother apparently leaching off the other but as the brothers talk it through, we begin to understand where each of them is coming from. 

Is it all about money? Or is there something deeper being explored here, with familial responsibility versus living a life free from constrictions? It’s a comedy, so it all ends well, and we can all go home with an immense grin on our faces, and maybe a slight niggle for the conscientious. 

Jed McLoughlin as the younger, savvier brother, wonderfully defies expectations, that it’s the leaner, faster thinking dude who is the success.  McLoughlin is wonderful to watch, as beneath his calm, steady demeaner, he constantly betrays his feelings. With the merest of facial expressions and body language, McLoughlin gives away the subtext. Harry Harding as the garrulous older brother, doesn’t miss a trick and jumps upon every revelation. 

It's a show which is extremely fast paced, so it’s necessary to keep up the concentration. At that dangerous moment, about two thirds through, (when plays often dip), it all begins to seem like repetition.  There’s a certain circularity, we’ve been here before, and the brothers certainly have. Fortunately, it all ends on a high. 

Room One Theatre Company Presents

THE RETREAT

From the Writer & Creator of Peep Show & Fresh Meat.

By Sam Bain.

White Bear Theatre, Kennington

9th - 13th April 2024

Box Office: https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/the-retreat

CAST

Luke - Jed McLoughlin

Tony - Harry Harding

Tara - Cara Heal