PRESS RELEASE – 13 February 2020 Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Website IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE THE BOULEVARD THEATRE PRESENTS THE EFFECT By Lucy Prebble Directed by Anthony Neilson • CASTING IS TODAY ANNOUNCED FOR THE FIRST LONDON REVIVAL OF LUCY PREBBLE’S THE EFFECT, DIRECTED BY ANTHONY NEILSON • THE CAST WILL BE ERIC KOFI ABREFA, CHRISTINE ENTWISLE, TIM MCMULLAN AND KATE O’FLYNN • THE PLAY RUNS AT THE BOULEVARD THEATRE FROM 19 MARCH UNTIL 30 MAY, WITH PRESS NIGHT ON 25 MARCH • NEW IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE The Boulevard Theatre today announces casting for the first London revival of The Effect, written by award-winning writer Lucy Prebble (A Very Expensive Poison, ENRON, The Sugar Syndrome, Succession and Secret Diary of a Call Girl) and directed by Anthony Neilson (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Prudes and Unreachable). Eric Kofi Abrefa plays Tristan Frey, Christine Entwisle will play Lorna James, Tim McMullan will play Toby and Kate O’Flynn will play Connie Hall. Winner of the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play when it opened at the National Theatre in 2012, The Effect places modern medicine under the microscope, examining the fallout from a collision between love and science. Connie and Tristan meet; symptoms develop. Racing hearts. Lost appetites. Erratic emotions. Is this the frenzy of falling in love, or simply side effects from the new anti- depressant drug they're testing? Addiction comes hard and fast. But have the clinicians running the trial lost control? Eric Kofi Abrefa most recently starred in the film Blue Story, directed by Rapman. Other films include Jurassic World and Fury alongside Brad Pitt. On stage, Eric played Jean opposite Vanessa Kirby in Julie at the National Theatre where his credits also include A Taste of Honey alongside Kate O’Flynn. Other theatre credits include ear for eye at the Royal Court and One Love: Bob Marley Musical at the Birmingham REP. Eric has also featured in a number of television shows including a leading role in Channel 4’s Humans and appearances in Amazon’s Jack Ryan and Hulu’s Harlots. Christine Entwisle’s recent theatre credits include The Monstrous Heart (Stephen Joseph Theatre), The Twits, Hope and Primetime (all Royal Court), as well as a number of plays at the RSC, including Romeo and Juliet. Her TV credits include Vera (ITV), Doctors (BBC) and Holby City (BBC). Tim McMullan has appeared in a number of shows at the National Theatre including Antony & Cleopatra, Common, Twelfth Night, Man vs Superman, The Cherry Orchard amongst many others. Other credits include King Charles III in the West End. TV and film credits include Netflix’s The Crown, Shakespeare in Love and The Fifth Element. Kate O’Flynn is currently appearing in all of it at the Royal Court, where her credits also include Blank, The End of History, and Anatomy of a Suicide. At the National Theatre she has performed in Port, for which she won the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and A Taste of Honey. TV and film highlights include Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky and Mr. Turner, BBC’s Wanderlust, and Channel 4’s Brexit. The Effect will play at the Boulevard Theatre from March 19 to May 30, with press night on March 25. -ENDS- For further information please contact The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 Laura Myers | Natasha Krstic-Howe LISTINGS THE EFFECT Writer: Lucy Prebble Director: Anthony Neilson Designer: Natasha Jenkins Lighting Design: Nigel Edwards Sound Design: Helen Skiera Casting: Julia Horan CDG First Performance: 19 March 2020 Final Performance: 30 May 2020 Opening Night: 25 March 2020 Monday – Saturday at 7pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2pm https://boulevardtheatre.co.uk/whats-on/the-effect/ Boulevard Theatre 6 Walker’s Court Soho W1F 0BT NOTES TO EDITORS BIOGRAPHIES ERIC KOFI ABREFA – TRISTAN FREY Theatre includes: Julie, A Taste of Honey, The Amen Corner (National Theatre); Ear for Eye, Choir Boy (Royal Court); Labyrinth, Wildfire (Hampstead); One Love: Bob Marley Musical (Birmingham Rep); The Glass Menagerie (Headlong); The Sluts of Sutton Drive (Finborough); Khadij is 18 (Hackney Empire). Television includes: Treadstone, The One, King Lear, Jack Ryan, Harlots, Deep State, Humans, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Halo: Knightfall. Film includes: Blue Story, Jurassic World, I.T., Snowden, Fury, Shoot the Messenger. CHRISTINE ENTWISTLE – LORNA JAMES Theatre includes: The Monstrous Heart (Traverse Theatre); Sense and Sensibility, Bold Girls, Rails (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick); The Twits, Hope, Primetime, Narrative (Royal Court); Billy the Girl (Clean Break/Soho); As You Like it, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Morte D’Arthur (RSC); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Gielgud Theatre/Headlong/Chichester); The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Royal Court/National Tour/Edinburgh International Festival); The Wedding (Southwark Playhouse); Vassa (Almeida/The Albery); A Family Affair (Theatre Clwyd); WonderHorse (Edinburgh Festival/ICA/BAC); Edward Gant (Theatre Royal Plymouth); I Am Dandy (Purcell Rooms/BAC); Ubu Kunst, Missing Jesus, Fine (Young Vic). Television includes: Vera, Manhunt, Fairy Job, Doctors, Attachments, Holby City, Where The Heart Is, Dalziel and Pascoe, A&E . Film includes: Mothers & Daughters, At Dawning, Storm Damage, Deeper Still. Radio includes: Doyouwishtocontinue, Secret Kebabs, Idle Hands, The Effect, Remorse, Heredity. TIM MCMULLAN – TOBY SEALEY Theatre includes: Anthony and Cleopatra, Common, Twelfth Night, Man and Superman, The Cherry Orchard, Burnt By the Sun, Present Laughter, Coram Boy, The Alchemist, Once in a Lifetime, His Dark Materials, The Three Sisters, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Murmuring Judges, The Miser, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Racing Demon, Wind in the Willows, Richard III (National Theatre); The Tempest, As You Like It (Globe); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC); Arabian Nights, The New Tenant (Young Vic); A Flea in Her Ear (Old Vic); The Tower (Almeida); King Charles III (West End); Father and Sons, The Front Page (Donmar); The Master and Margarita, Mnemonic, The Noise of Time (Theatre de Complicite), Neville’s Island (Chichester Festival). TV Includes: The Serpent, The Crown, Brexit, Patrick Melrose, Fearless, The Witness for the Prosecution, Doctor Thorne, Grantchester, The Go-Between, Elementary, Endeavor, Foyle’s War, The Hollow Crown, Parade’s End, Silk, Margaret, Sense and Sensibility, Henry IV. Film includes: King Charles III, The Woman In Black, The Ween, Two Men Went to War, Eisenstein, Onegin, Shakespeare in love, Plunkett and MacLean, The Fifth Element, Robinson Crusoe, Caught in the Act, Shadowland, Princess Caraboo. KATE O’FLYNN – CONNIE HALL Theatre includes: A Taste of Honey, Port (Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer) (National Theatre); all of it, Blank, The End of History, Anatomy Of A Suicide, The Ritual Slaughter Of George Mastromas, A Miracle (Royal Court); Language/ Ashes to Ashes (Harold Pinter); The Glass Menagerie (Clarence Derwent Award, Olivier Award nomination Best Actress in a Supporting Role) (Duke of York’s/ Edinburgh Festival); The Trial (Young Vic); Lungs, The Sound of Heavy Rain (Sheffield); Marine Parade (ETT); The Whiskey Taster (Bush); House of Special Purpose (Minerva); See How They Run, The Children’s Hour (MEN Award for Best Newcomer, TMA for Best Supporting Actress) (Royal Exchange). Television includes: Father Brown 5/ 6, The Syndicate, Brexit, No Offence, Wanderlust, Doctor Throne, Not You Again, Ordinary Lies, New Tricks, Room At The Top, Playhouse Presents: The Snipist, Above Suspicion, The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher, Kingdom, The Palace, Trial & Retribution. Film includes: Peterloo, Mr Turner, Happy Go Lucky, Bridget Jones’ Baby, Up There. Workshops include: You For Me For You (Royal Court); Twilight Zone (Almeida); Future Conditional (Old Vic). LUCY PREBBLE Lucy Prebble is co-executive producer and writer on the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy award winning HBO drama Succession, for which she was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award. For television, a brand-new series starring Billie Piper I Hate Suzie (Sky/Bad Wolf) which she has written and co-created will air in later this year. She is the creator of the ground-breaking TV series Secret Diary Of A Call Girl (ITV/Showtime), and recently made a pilot for HBO starring Sarah Silverman. Lucy writes for Frankie Boyle’s New World Order (BBC) also appearing as a guest on the show and regularly features on the panel on Have I Got News For You (BBC). For theatre, her credits include A Very Expensive Poison (Old Vic) awarded the Michael Billington Award for Best New Play at the Critics’ Circle Awards 2020, The Effect (National Theatre/Headlong) which also won the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play in 2012, ENRON (Headlong, Royal Court Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, West End and Broadway) and The Sugar Syndrome (Royal Court) which won the prestigious George Devine Award. Lucy also writes video games and a weekly Tech column for the Observer newspaper. ANTHONY NEILSON Anthony Neilson’s work in theatre as a writer includes The Tell-Tale Heart (National Theatre), The Prudes, Unreachable, Narrative, Get Santa!, Relocated, The Lying Kind, The Censor (Royal Court), Penetrator (Royal Court, Edinburgh Festival), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Royal Court, Tron, Edinburgh Lyceum, Theatre Royal Plymouth, UK tour), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Edinburgh Lyceum), Realism (Edinburgh Lyceum), The Haunting of Hill House (Liverpool Playhouse), God in Ruins (Soho Theatre), The Séance and The Menu (National Theatre), Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (Theatre Royal Plymouth, UK tour), Stitching (Traverse, The Bush), The Night Before Christmas (The Red room, Soho Theatre, Southwark Playhouse), Normal: the Dusseldorf Ripper (EIF, Finborough Theatre). Directing credits include Marat/Sade, The Drunks (RSC), The Big Lie (Latitude Festival) and The Death of Klinghoffer (Scottish Opera, Edinburgh International Festival). .