Billie Piper & Rupert Goold create Prebble Effect at National

Former Dr Who assistant Billie Piper has been confirmed as the star for new play The Effect at the National Theatre. Rupert Goold will direct the show, a collaboration between his Headlong theatre company and the National Theatre. The play, which opens 6 November 2012 at the NT Cottesloe, will also star Jonjo O’Neill, Tom Goodman-Hill and Anastasia Hille.

Goold described the The Effect, written by Enron playwright Lucy Prebble to the Mail as having “a hint of Romeo And Juliet, in that there are star-crossed lovers, played by Billie and Jonjo, and it’s about how and why people fall in love”, adding that it would showcase “love at its purest.”

As well as numerous TV credits, Piper’s stage credits include Neil LaBute’s Reasons to Be Pretty at the Almeida Theatre and a revival of Christopher Hampton’s Treats in the West End.