Tom Brooke and Reece Shearsmith among A Very Expensive Poison casting

Casting has been announced for Lucy Prebble's new play A Very Expensive Poison, based on Luke Harding's book about the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, which opens at the Old Vic next month.

Tom Brooke will play Litvinenko, the Russian spy who was poisoned in London after he defected to MI6. Litvinenko died in London in November 2006 after being poisoned with the radionuclide polonium-210.

Lloyd Hutchinson and Michael Shaeffer will play Dimitri Kotvun and Andrei Luguvoi, the two former agents Litvinenko met with the day before he was admitted to hospital.

Peter Polycarpou will play Russian tycoon Boris Bereszovsky, an opponent of Vladimir Putin who was granted political asylum in the UK in 2003, and Reece Shearsmith will play a character called 'The President'.

The cast of the play also includes Thomas Arnold, MyAnna Buring, Callum Coates, Marc Graham, Amanda Hadingue, Yasmine Holness-Dove, Robyn Moore, Sarah Seggari, Gavin Spokes and Bea Svistunenko.

Directed by John Crowley, A Very Expensive Poison will feature set and costume design by Tom Scutt, lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin, sound by Paul Arditti, choreography by Aletta Collins, compositions by Paddy Cuneen, and video design by Ewan Jones Morris.

A Very Expensive Poison is at the Old Vic from 20^th August.

A Very Expensive Poison tickets are available now.