Theater Review by Brian Scott Lipton . . . .
We’ve all heard that love is a drug. But can a drug cause love? That’s the big practical question being posed—alongside a host of philosophical one—by Lucy Prebble in her emotionally devastating and incredibly thought-provoking play The Effect, now being given a pulsating (and customarily minimalistic) production by the celebrated British director Jamie Lloyd at The Shed.
Mind you, I am not saying “new” play, although Prebble has made substantial changes to the show’s script—including trimming it down to 100 minutes—since its London debut in 2012 (and subsequent NYC production in 2016). Still, The Effect feels fresh from the headlines, as Prebble probes the increasingly common use (and misuse) of chemicals to alter our everyday emotions. She doesn’t exactly take sides but cleverly points out the dangers and benefits through the four characters who populate Soutra Gilmour’s narrow runway set (augmented by Jon Clark’s extraordinary lighting and Michael “Mikey J” Asante’s propulsive score.)
The show’s main focus is on Connie (the soft-spoken but incredibly powerful Taylor Russell) and Tristan (the charismatic Paapa Essiedu), who are among the test subjects for a new antidepressant. Oddly, though, neither claims to suffer from depression. Connie, a graduate student in psychology, admits to often being “sad” (but not depressed), while Tristan seems almost happy-go-lucky, although there is a lingering question of his past drug use and lack of purpose in life.
He says he’s in the test for money, while Connie’s motivation is perhaps less clear. More knowledge, perhaps? In fact, the little knowledge she already possesses—about how drugs and drug trials work—turns out to be the proverbial dangerous thing once the seemingly mismatched pair fall head over heels in love. Can their “love” be real—especially, as Connie wonders, if only one of them is on the drug and the other a placebo?
Either way, Prebble asks, is a drug the right path to building a future, never mind destroying a present? (Connie is involved with an older, divorced professor.) Yet Russell and Essideu have such palpable emotional and physical chemistry that one also wonders if the question is completely irrelevant!
Acting as both counterpoint and commentators are the two psychiatrists overseeing the trial, each seated on one edge of the stage: Toby (the almost robotic sounding, extremely effective Kobna Holbrook Smith) has devoted his life to exploring the brain (one of only two props used in the show) and has tried to develop many prior drugs, clearly believing that they can be of great benefit.
In fact, we ultimately learn that one of the many reasons he has hired Lorna (the spectacular Michelle Austin), a clinical psychiatrist, as his partner is not just that she’s his ex-lover (in an affair that did not end well), but that she suffers from overwhelming depression and has consistently refused to take any form of psychiatric medicine. Toby hopes against hope she will be swayed to his vision before she does something drastic.
But are drugs really the answer to Lorna’s problem? Not only did she suffer numerous traumas in the same year—the affair with Toby comes on the heels of her mother’s death—but her entire life can feel like an insurmountable challenge. As a black woman (all four characters here are black), she feels her profession doesn’t take her as seriously as her male and/or white counterparts. As she virulently tells Toby: “I’m a working-class Black woman. Getting out of bed is a political act!”
I would “warn” viewers there’s an insanely loud score that plays inside the theater for the entire time before the show starts, and while it may be there to set a mood, it might also put you in a bad mood. Like with certain drugs, music can have unintended side effects. So to most appreciate this riveting drama, take your seats as close to curtain time as possible!
The Effect. Through March 31at The Shed’s Griffin Theater (545 West 30th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues). www.theshed.org
Photos: Marc Brenner
