"The Effect". Burton Taylor Studio
Lucy Prebble’s ENRON told the story of a company falling to pieces. Her next play, The Effect , shows us the human brain doing the exact same thing. Both push their characters, whether corporate or clinical, to the limits of endurance, but The Effect has an extra, and potent, ingredient: love. The Effect takes place over the course of a month-long medical experiment to test a new anti-depressant, during which two of the subjects, Connie and Tristan (played by Rose Martin and Alec Greene) become uncontrollably infatuated with each other. Is their passion down to the drug, or is it real? And is there any difference? Does man-made chemistry create these desires? Or does it merely release what’s buried inside but scared to come out and play? Is it the Truth, or just… the Effect? These are inescapable questions in an age when we are surrounded by machine-made impulses pounding at our vulnerable souls. At the same time, the impact of playing God with people’s emotions inevitably affects th...