Full Cast Set for UK Premiere of Ayad Akhtar's THE INVISIBLE HAND at Tricycle Theatre

Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham, today announces the full cast for the UK première of The Invisible Hand - a political thriller from Ayad Akhtar who won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Disgraced which ran at the Bush Theatre in 2013.

Rubasingham directs Tony Jayawardena, Daniel Lapaine, Sid Sagar and Parth Thakerar in the UK première production which opens on 18 May, with previews from 12 May, and runs until 2 July. The Invisible Hand is the final production before the theatre closes until summer 2017 as it undergoes a £5.5 million capital re-development.

American banker Nick Bright knows that his freedom comes at a price. Confined to a cell within the depths of rural Pakistan, every second counts. Who will decide his fate? His captors, or the whims of the market?

Ayad Akhtar's intense political thriller lays bare the raw, unfettered power of global finance in this fast-moving, contemporary play directed by the Tricycle's Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham.

Ayad Akhtar was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of American Dervish, published in 25 languages worldwide and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews, Toronto's Globe and Mail, Shelf-Awareness, and O (Oprah) Magazine. As a screenwriter, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The War Within. He has received commissions from Lincoln Center and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of Brown and Columbia Universities with degrees in Theater and Film Directing. The Invisible Hand premièred at the Repertory Theater of St Louis. Other theatre credits include Disgraced (American Theater Company in Chicago; Lincoln Center, New York and Bush Theatre - Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and The Who & The What (La Jolla Playhouse).

Tony Jayawardena plays Imam Saleem. His theatre credits include Bend It Like Beckham (Phoenix Theatre), The Roaring Girl, The Arden of Faversham, The White Devil, The Empress, Twelfth Night (RSC), Dick Whittington, Love and Stuff (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Wind In The Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Wah! Wah! Girls (Sadler's Wells/ Kneehigh), Great Expectations (English Touring Theatre), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), London Assurance, All's Well That Ends Well, England People Very Nice (National Theatre). For television his recent work includes The Windsors, Strike Back, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby; and for film, his work includes Towerblock, Trance and A Cat Named Bob.

Daniel Lapaine plays Nick. His theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare's Globe), Other Desert Cities, Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), The Winter's Tale (Sheffield Crucible), The Dance of Death (Donmar Trafalgar), All My Sons (Apollo Theatre), Scenes from the Back of Beyond, F***ing Games (Royal Court), Les Parents Terribles, King Lear (Sydney Theatre Company), Island (Belvoir Street Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare Company). For television his work includes Versailles, Catastrophe, Critical, Vexed, Lewis, Vera, Black Mirror, Identity, Moonshot, Hotel Babylon; Sex, the City and Me; Jane Hall, Good Housekeeping Guide, Golden Hour, Jericho, Death on the Nile, Redcap, Helen of Troy, I Saw You and Tenth Kingdom. Film credits include Dead in Tombstone, Zero Dark Thirty, Gozo, Jack the Giant Killer, Shanghai, Last Chance Harvey, Collusion, Abduction Club, Ritual, Journeyman, Double Jeopardy, Elephant Juice, Brokedown Palace, 54, Say You'll Be Mine, 1999, Dangerous Beauty, Polish Wedding and Muriel's Wedding.

Sid Sagar plays Dar. His theatre credits include The Tempest, Cymbeline, The Oresteia, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare's Globe), Treasure (Finborough Theatre), The History Boys (UK tour), True Brits (HighTide/Edinburgh/Bush Theatre) and Eternal Love (Shakespeare's Globe & English Touring Theatre). His television work includes The Hollow Crown and The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies; and for film, Karma Magnet.

Parth Thakerar plays Bashir. His theatre credits include King Charles III (UK tour), The Hard Problem (National Theatre), Arcadia (Nottingham Playhouse), King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre).

Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre Indhu Rubasingham directs. Her work for the company includes Red Velvet (which transferred to New York and later to the Garrick Theatre as part of the Kenneth Branagh Season) and Handbagged (winner of Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre - also West End and UK tour). Other productions for the Tricycle Theatre include A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, Paper Dolls, Women, Power and Politics, Stones in His Pockets, Detaining Justice, The Great Game: Afghanistan, Fabulation and Starstruck. Other theatre credits include The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Evening Standard Award for Best Play), The Waiting Room (National Theatre), The Ramayana (National Theatre/ Birmingham Rep), Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch and Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), Ruined (Almeida), Yellowman and Anna in the Tropics (Hampstead Theatre), Secret Rapture and The Misanthrope (Minerva, Chichester), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre ), Pure Gold (Soho Theatre), The No Boys Cricket Club and Party Girls (Stratford East), Wuthering Heights (Birmingham REP), Heartbreak House (Watford Palace Theatre), Sugar Dollies, Shakuntala (Gate Theatre), A River Sutra (Three Mill Island Studios), Rhinoceros (UC Davis, California) and A Doll's House (Young Vic).