The Effect by Lucy Prebble - ★★★★☆
With Prebble's contributions to TV hit Succession still lingering in many of our minds, anticipation and expectations are high for this rendition of her 2012 play finely adapted for this particular cast. Jamie Lloyd strips all distraction and has the audience focus on nothing other than the transmission of energy and potentially drug fuelled chemistry between Hackney bred Tristan (Paapa Essieedu), Canadian psychology student Connie (Taylor Russell) and the Doctors in control. Jon Clark’s intelligent yet surreal lighting from all directions but most importantly the floor, clearly defines Soutra Gimlour’s minimalist and efficient set, when and where we are. 2 chairs, 1 bucket and a human brain is all that is needed for the fast paced, high energy performance that ensues.
As the two seemingly opposite participants struggle to resist their longing for one another on this paid drug trial, the age-old psychological question arises: Is this “Nature or Nurture?”.
Are they naturally drawn towards one another, or is the drug trial influencing their feelings? Essiedu captivates from every angle in the Lyttelton theatre, bouncing confidently and with ease in voice and physicality around the softer, more poised Russell. The mundane and the lofty conversations alike feel real and wonderfully intimate as they discover one other. The audience journeys with the participants in an attempt to decipher to what extent the increasing dosage of the antidepressant being administered is the cause of this intense love. Or like Love Island, was there always a high probability that when you put two young and varyingly fascinating people in a small space for weeks on end, something will inevitably happen - the drug bearing little consequence on what was already destined.
All of this is monitored and unfolds under the watchful eye of hard working Dr Lorna James (Michele Austin) the lead psychologist, committed yet cynical about the prescription of drugs within her field, and a slick, frustratingly charming boss with velvety vocals, Dr Toby Sealey (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith). Poised at either end of this traverse clinical box, once brought under the light, there’s an evident tension between the two doctors, that is in part professional and scientific discourse, but also, partially reminiscent of what is happening with the clinical participants at the core of the study. As tensions and side effects rise on all fronts, unexpected human centred variants such as trust, empathy and the need for control, threaten to sabotage the experiment Dr Sealey demands must succeed.
Jamie Lloyd ensures The Effect doesn’t get lost in scientific jargon and ideologies but is a timely revival. The play stays grounded in the nuance and complexities of human relations and circumstances all can identify with. Larger topics such as; class, the ethics of holding trials in West Africa “only to run off with our medicines” and the imbalance of medical treatment in black communities are touched on but left for the audience to ponder after the curtain closes. Prebble’s script in conjunction with Lloyd’s clear direction, allows for easy extrapolation of these themes outside of a clinical study and into the equally harsh arena of modern life. The actors embody the words and directions as if they were their own. Tristan and Connie are on the Petri dish, under the microscope but, The Effect does the work of having us wonder how we too are enduring in the experiment of life.
The Effect runs at the National Theatre until 7 October