The cast has been announced for a compelling and chilling true story.

Fast follows the career of quack doctor Linda Hazzard, played by Caroline Lawrie (Peaky Blinders), whose cures had a shocking mortality rate. In a chilling parallel to our modern world of influencers peddling protein shakes and pills, Fast is the true story of “the Starvation Doctor”, who advocated a fasting cure that gripped the press and divided a nation.

How far would you go to find the perfect cure? In an isolated region of the Pacific Northwest, ‘Dr’ Linda Hazzard opens her clinic to the public. But the public do not always survive.

The psychological drama, starring actors from screen and stage, will be performed at Park Theatre in Finsbury Park from Tuesday, October 15, to Saturday, November 9.

Joining Lawrie on stage will be Jordon Stevens (Call the Midwife, Phantom Thread) and Natasha Cowley (Othello, Shakespeare’s Globe), who appear as her patients Claire and Dora Williamson. Journalist Horace R. Cayton Jr will be played by Daniel Norford (Disney’s The Lion King, UK and international tour).

Shortlisted for Best New Play 2018 by New Writing South, Fast is a dark and powerful thriller, based entirely on real historical figures, which interrogates the lengths people will go to for ambition, for a story, for a cure. When searching for a clean slate without discomfort, niggles or twinges, it can be easy to lose sight of the risks of extreme methodologies when they promise to be the miracle solution.

Director Kate Valentine said: “Hooked on internet influencers, we now risk trusting people who peddle pills and potions and can lose sight of the perils to our health when adopting extreme regimes. Fast depicts a remarkable woman who uses her powers of persuasion to lure patients, desperate for any miracle cure.”

Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, N4 3JP, Tuesday, October 15, to Saturday, November 9. Details: 020 1871 6876 parktheatre.co.uk