Rehearsal shots from Fast at Park Theatre have been made available.
The cast has been announced for the compelling and chilling true story, Fast. A psychological drama, laced with suspense, it follows the cult health professional Linda Hazzard, played by Caroline Lawrie (Peaky Blinders, BBC; An Ideal Husband, The Old Vic; The Master Builder, Theatre Royal Haymarket), 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 Linda Hazzard 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. Joining Lawrie on stage will be Jordon Stevens (Harlots, ITV and Hulu; Call the Midwife, BBC; Phantom Thread) and Natasha Cowley (Othelllo, Shakespeare’s Globe; Connections 2018, National Theatre; Anomaly, Old Red Lion) who appear as her patients Claire and Dora Williamson. Journalist Horace R. Cayton Jr. will be played by Daniel Norford (Small Island, National Theatre; Disney’s The Lion King, UK and international tour; Rocky Shock, Wardrobe Theatre).
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 comments, 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. Laced with suspense and psychological drama, Fast explores the true crime of a woman determined to prove herself to a world challenging her methodologies.
