‘The Effect,’ a play by Lucy Prebble, discovers the complexities of the trial and error in Big Pharma, attraction, and attachment.
Academy Award nominee and Gloucester resident Lindsay Crouse and Saturday Night Live alum Brad Hall both star in the ‘The Effect,’ at the Gloucester Stage Company. Both Crouse and Hall joined Boston Public Radio discuss the play, following its New England Premiere this past weekend.
When asked to give a brief summation of the play in the context of today's modern world, Hall had this to say: “How much is [life] about personal relationships and how much is it about what a relationship is doing chemically and emotionally to you?” Hall said.
Hall further described that as an actor, for a play such as this, it is of utmost importance that the characters they play resemble real people.
“We’ve tried to connect it to the characters we’re playing and their relationship. A lot of it has to do with people that care about each other how do they take care of each other?..Is there a chemical way to be taken care of? I think the play has to be about actual people so that's what we’ve been trying to figure out,” Hall said.
Crouse notes that the play asks some of the questions we ask ourselves in our everyday lives, such as are we doing what we're supposed to? And how can we change that, if we’re not?
“We are a culture and society that has moved toward looking for happiness in external things. The drugs could be considered an external thing. And who are you if you're not the successful one? If your life is not working out the way it should on TV? The way this jangled and jacked up culture is racing to the finish line and you're not coming in first second or third. what kind of examination do you make of your life and do you need something to change that?” Crouse said.
For Hall, this marks his own return to the stage after a lengthy career in film and television.
“I grew up doing plays and I have always thought of plays as the most fun thing and then when one doesn't do plays for a while you sort of think what would be a good way to get back at doing that that's honest and actually about the work? So this turned out to be the perfect way to do it,” Hall said.
“The Effect” will be at the Gloucester Stage Company through July 10th. To learn more about the performances go to gloucesterstage.com and to hear their full conversation, click the audio player above.
