The Effect

 

A play with an excellent pedigree, written by Lucy Prebble of I Hate Suzie and Succession, I missed the original production with Billie Piper.  

The performance we saw had understudy Mara Huf, playing Connie against Paapa Essiedu’s Tristan.  If this made any difference I don’t really care as what I saw  tonight was still very good indeed.  We had seats in the slips, one of my favourite spots in the Lyttleton, which was transformed by the traverse stage with the other half of the audience looking back at us.  

A four hander, we have Connie and Tristan as the participants in a trial for an anti depressant drug, observed by two doctors Lorna and Toby. In a a bare set except for the lighting effects, a couple of chairs and a bucket with a brain in it, both sides of the audience watch each other as we watch two people fall in love, and the observers explore love, depression, the after effects and lots more besides. The play explores firstly, how much we are the stuff and chemicals that we are made of, or is there something else there? If we are given drugs to change our mood, how much is that still us vs the drugs?  Why and how do we fall in and out of love?  Is love just chemistry or is there something else going on? Then what about how the brain works, the ethics of drugs trials, the biases that we bring to every experience, and if we are sad or depressed, (and with good reason given the state of the world and our lives) is it the right thing to medicate it away?  Are we ourselves, separate from the physical matter we are made of?  So, a bit of a look at the human condition too and definite touches of the metaphysical.  One of the articles in the programme references Hamlet (my favouritist play ever) and the parallels are definitely there to be found.  The Effect explores what it is to be human and how to treat someone who has ‘lost all their mirth’ with a modern understanding of our brains and mental health.  But mostly, it asks what is love?

All of the performances are great in this but Paapa Essiedu stands out as the emotionally open Tristan vs the more analytical and skeptical Connie.  And Michele Austin as Lorna is warm and believable and heartbreaking against the clinically detached Toby.  The ending for Connie and Tristan is moving in all sorts of ways but I loved that the final moment was given to Lorna.  

No badly behaved audiences tonight but there was definitely a younger demographic in this sold out theatre - guessing that might have something to do with the cast and pedigree, but I loved the slightly different buzz it gave to the auditorium. A really good evening with lots to think about in my journey home.