A Very Expensive Poison

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11 July 2019 · Follow on Stagedoor

“A new play by Lucy Prebble (who wrote Enron, The Effect and The Sugar Syndrome) is always something to look forward to. In the wake of the Salisbury Novichok poisonings, this account of a previous poisoning is based on Luke Harding’s book about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, who in November 2006 was poisoned by the radioactive substance Polonium in London after making enemies in Russia at the highest level. Harding’s thoroughly researched book has been compared to a real-life John LeCarre thriller and Prebble should make it gripping in a production that shines a spotlight on the shadowy world of international espionage.”

Overview

A modern-day assassination in the heart of London. In the strange coming together of high-stakes global politics and radioactive villainy, a man pays with his life.

At this time of unnerving global crises and rumblings of a new Cold War, A Very Expensive Poison sends us careering through the shadowy world of international espionage from the townhouses of Fitzrovia to the brothels of Soho.

With dazzling inventiveness, Lucy Prebble (The Effect, ENRON) reimagines Luke Harding’s jaw-dropping exposé of the events behind the tragic death of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.