Season One. (Six Episodes)
KNOCKNAHAY, IRELAND-- Shannon, a spoiled, Irish-American textile artist of dubious talent embarks on a transformative journey to an arts residency in Ireland. She and her credit cards coast through life into fruitless spirals of self-improvement fads and spouting empty positive-thinking mantras.
Waiting for Brigit
Episode 1
We meet the staff in the kitchen of The Kathleen O’Mara Residential Centre for the Arts, a fading grand home. A new employee is chopping turnips while the chef Nora and her assistant Teresa bicker and prepare dinner. Old and new residents file into the formal dining room for a candlelit evening. Newcomers are introduced including Shannon, a vapid Irish-American. Shannon hopes that with the help of her Irish cousin Brigit, her latent Celtic fire will ignite. Brigit has powers as a Druidic healer/ poet. The famous, Russian, dissident artist, Olivoff Smirnoff is also eagerly awaited by his many admirers. Meanwhile, thwarted heiress and Megacorp diva Skye Jetjetski calls her childhood pal, Malachy the groundskeeper to hatch a devious plan. Back at the table, artsy residents are increasingly hungrier and drunker. Barney, the executive director of the residency, sheepishly announces he has found a generous sponsor, Megacorp to fund needed house renovations. Reactions are mixed. Olivoff, the famous, Russian, dissident artist cancels. Brigit arrives. The dinner heats up. The cousins Brigit and Shannon spend an exciting, first evening together. The other residents, especially the A.R.S.E envoy and resident poet Mary are happy to leave when the evening is over.
Change Comes from the Skye
Episode 2
Despite the pouring rains, a buzz is in the air. Cupid strikes. Shannon is smitten with Malachy, the hunky groundskeeper. While Gunter continues his creative, ecological, research on his impotent king stoat, while Damien and the others show their support for inside his make-shift hedge school turned audio studio. Skye and the famous dissident Russian artist are expected for dinner. Inspired by the cousins, Teresa researches her DNA while her boss and the new help peel ever more potatoes and turnips. Once again the famous, Russian dissident artists fails to appear but what about those ghosts? Damien continues to bore with his tidbits about Irish history. Shannon fails to impress her hangry table mates with her unconvincing positivity practice. Skye Jetjetski makes her grand entrance and Mary the poet is not impressed. Shannon jockeys for high-flying Skye's attention and dumps cousin Brigit once again. Mary seeks to use the powers of A.R.S.E to bring down Skye. The Megacorp diary room is unveiled. The artists must register detailed, daily recordings of their artistic journey for Megacorp, in exchange for their sponsorship to renovate their crumbling artistic haven. The cousins record their first diary room entry. Skye and Malachy continue to plot.
The Original Diary Room
Episode 3
The cousins finally start their cosmic DNA quilt collaboration at the lovely fairy fort. Shannon confides her doubts about being a real artist to Brigit but Brigit believes in her cousin. The arrival of smarmy Malachy and a storm breaks the spell of complicity. Shannon lets Malachy whisk her away on his lawnmower and ditches Brigit once again. Brigit weathers the storm solo and finds shelter at Una's disgusting guesthouse. Agnes is inside assembling Una’s hoarded treasures into a sculpture. Meanwhile, Skye shares the dastardly details of her plans with Malachy. With Malachy's help, they will take over, enslave the feckess artists, and turn their residency into a unique, luxury art-resort for the happy few seeking the fountain of creativity. Mary and Barney are in a romantic pickle. Gunter urges someone-- anyone, to listen to him. Skye is meeting up with resistance from Mary who is not feckless. Shannon falls for Skye's tricks and gives her new ideas to boot. More sightings of the ghost.
Clash of the Cousins
Episode 4
Brigit starts the day with some levitation and Shannon tries out some homeopathy. Bloody murder squeals are coming from the diary room, it's St Brigit to the rescue with Teresa not far behind. Gunter glimpses hope for the stoat kingdom. The cousins start recording in the diary room but fall out when Shannon once again chooses Malachy over Brigit or their art project, Brigit threatens to untether their etheric cord once and for all. Malachy moves in for the kill. Shannon dooms the creative paradise with a lurid, true confession. Brigit starts a protest up a tree. The other Artists are unaware of what’s going on but won't listen to Gunter. Skye's plan is moving forward. The artists move out to Una's Guesthouse. The renovations can begin.
Megacorps Artist Theme Park
Episode 5
The artists go to the house to confront Skye but Skye has used Shannon’s recording to revoke her grandmother's will and turn the residence back to private ownership. Damien’s ghost writer is exposed. Malachy reveals he was using Shannon all along with Skye’s knowledge. Skye won’t talk to Shannon anymore and fires Barney, Nora and Teresa. The artists agree to go ahead with the exhibition anyway and move in the dormitory as they have nowhere else to go. Shannon takes off her nails and starts stitching a quilt so she can win Brigit back.
Exhibition Day
Episode 6
Damien MC's the exhibtion opening ceremonies. He welcomes Skye on stage. Gunter reveals his stoat cam footage video proving that Malachy and Skye's plotted to ruin the residency and they confess to the murder Kathleen O'Mara's only son when they were young. Teresa reigns in the stoats. Her DNA arrives; she is the true heiress of Kathleen O’Mara's estate and takes charge.
Meanwhile, Skye and Malachy are arrested. Shannon turns up with her lopsided healing quilt embroidered with Brigit's healing poetry. Their wish comes true, they are published. Agnes sells her sculpture: The Madness of Ireland to a hedgefund investor for the millions, never mind about Una's decaying dog inside it.
Olivoff Smirnoff, the famous Russian dissident artist, does an interpretive dance in front of underground footage that proves MEGACORP is running an illegal cloning operation.
The audience full of MEGACORP board members make a run for it but are stopped by the police. The artists sit down for a final dinner. Teresa is now the lady of the house and Nora rings the dinner gong. Agnes donates the 10 million she got for the sculpture to fund the retreat. Damien pledges that his history book has been published and that Freda his ghostwriter will get all the credit for her writing. Barney has quit his job to join Mary to produce a musical of Waiting for Godot. Mary is free from A.R.S.E.'s constrictions. Shannon and Brigit have begun a blog and online shop for Druidic healing. They all join hands for Brigit's final blessing. The real ghosts appear revealing themselves as Teresa 's parents...
History
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December 2022- Literary Prize announcement. "THE BOXED IN POET" a staged spin-off of Retreat Comedy, is honored to be shortlisted for the Hammond House Publishing Literary Prize in Comedy. (The award ceremony is during the Grimsby Literary Festival in the England in February 2023.)
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October 2022- Creation of on-stage spin-off of Retreat Comedy. 'THE BOXED IN POET' a five-minute play in which appear two characters from Retreat Comedy. Damien, the radio host interviews, Mary the poet in front of an audience at a literary festival.
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October 2022- Creation of a spin-off of Retreat Comedy: 'MAN OF THE PEOPLE, MAN ABOUT TOWN', a ten-minute play in which a British fan and his wife go to a literary festival to meet his idol: Damien, the popular radio host. The stageplay features two characters from the podcast series RETREAT COMEDY.
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September 2022- #1 Apple Podcast Comedy Fiction. The series holds steady as #1 in comedy fiction and #2 in fiction in the Irish charts. #5 comedy fiction in France. Top 50 in the UK, and USA comedy fiction charts. Trends in India, Germany, Australia, Canada and Nigeria.
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September 8, 2022- Launch of Retreat Comedy as a 6-part scripted podcast series with voice actors, and sound-scape.
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October 2021- Receives art grant to produce live script reading with actors in front of an outdoor audience. (Athenry Heritage Centre, Ireland. )
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October 2020 Press. Retreat Comedy is written about in the culture section. ( The Galway Advertiser)
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October 2020 & 2021- Retreat Comedy receives an art grant to produce live script reading with actors in front of an outdoor audience. (Athenry Heritage Centre, Ireland. )
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August 2020- Fundraising campaign raises 3000 euros to finance expenses
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Spring 2020- Casting and rehearsals.
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February 2020- Covid Lockdowns. Online writing collaboration continues .
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January 2020- The co-creators meet to explore possibilities of creative collaboration. (The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland)
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January 2019- The Craic begins. Short-story author Aoibheann McCann & artist Andi Ipaktchi meet at the dinner table during their residencies. (The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland.)
Cast: Paul McClosky, Gavin Morgan Helen Gregg, Aoibheann McCann, Andi Ipaktchi
Interview
🍀 Shannon, a spoiled Irish-American wannabe-artist goes to an arts residency in Ireland to join her Druidic poet/healer cousin whom she matched with on an ancestor/DNA website. The beautiful old house by a lake is full of artists, writers and poets. The thwarted heiress to the estate returns and threatens the creative haven. Six 20-minute bite-size episodes.
