Clarion at the Arcola Theatre starring Clare Higgins

Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks will star in the world premiere of Clarion, a new comedy by Mark Jagasia at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, east London, from 15 April to 16 May 2015, with an official opening on 22 April 2015.

Mark Jagasia worked as a journalist for several Fleet Street newspapers, and his first play is described as "an urgent black comedy about free speech, nationalism and the state of the British media in 2015" and contains themes of rising nationalism and political turbulence that are particularly relevant in this general election year.

"Morris Honeyspoon, the Clarion's egomaniacal editor, spends his weekends dressed as Julius Caesar, and at work he rules like a tyrant. But life at his beloved paper is a masterclass in incompetence and deceit. As political storm clouds gather over an uneasy country, it seems the paper's worst crimes are about to be exposed. With Honeyspoon frantically searching for an office traitor, washed-up foreign correspondent Verity Stokes masterminds a murderous day of reckoning..."

Joining Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks will be Peter Bourke, Jim Bywater, Jim Dunkley, Laura Smithers, and Ryan Wichert.

The production will be directed by Mehmet Ergen with designs by Anthony Lamble, lighting design by David Howe and music and sound design by Neil McKeown.