Hicks and Higgins star in Arcola press satire Clarion

Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks will star in the premiere of Clarion, set in the office of "Britain's worst newspaper", at the Arcola Theatre.

Written by Mark Jagasia, who worked as a journalist for several Fleet Street newspapers, the play is billed as an "urgent black comedy about free speech, nationalism and the state of the British media in 2015".

First seen as part of the Arcola's 2014 Playwrought new writing festival, it will run from 15 April to 16 May 2015, directed by the venue's artistic director Mehmet Ergen.

Hicks plays Morris Honeyspoon, the Daily Clarion's egomaniacal editor, who panics when the paper's worst crimes threatened to get exposed. With Honeyspoon frantically searching for an office traitor, washed-up foreign correspondent Verity Stokes (Higgins) masterminds a murderous day of reckoning.

Ergen said: "As we're rehearsing Clarion, my production of Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre is playing downstairs. One confronts the state of the British media; the other the state of modern warfare. Both are vital world premieres. As the election looms, I’m proud that Arcola Theatre is tackling big political questions with daring political plays."

The rest of the cast are: Peter Bourke, Jim Bywater, Jim Dunkley, Laura Smithers, Ryan Wichert.

Also announced by the Arcola recently is the London transfer of Product, starring Olivia Poulet, which runs in the studio from 27 April to 23 May 2015.