I admire so much about this production and many things about the text. That discussion starts in the paragraph that begins “In other ways…”
But first I’m going to talk about elements that kept me from fully investing in the script, including what I perceive as the naïveté of its thematic content.
The synopsis: When we meet the play’s central characters, Connie and Tristan, they are signing up to participate in a four-week, residential trial of what they’re told is a new antidepressant. As the study progresses and their dosages increase, Connie and Tristan fall — hesitantly at first, then wildly — in love.
But Connie in particular wonders if their love is real. Should they distrust their passion or is their experience fundamentally the same as that of any other person who’s falling in love and negotiating the attendant flood of hormones and other chemicals?
In a parallel plotline, Dr. Lorna James, who’s administering the trial, and Dr. Toby Sealy, who’s overseeing it, reconnect after a failed love affair. Their interaction frames the script’s second big question: Is taking antidepressants a good idea or does it simply mask natural emotional states?
These questions do not compellingly engage me. I’m 73 and personal experience led me to my answers decades ago.
Psychiatric medication helped save my life and has unquestionably saved the lives of a number of my friends, so, yes, there can be problems with overprescription and overmedication, but psychiatric drugs are incredibly useful tools and we’re lucky to have them.
And, of course, romantic “chemistry” is a real thing, with dopamine, serotonin, and my old friend testosterone among the many players. But do I think it’s a good idea to launch into a relationship when you’re perpetually stoned on outside chemicals you’re introducing to your bloodstream? No, I do not.
So, the way I see things, The Effect might appear thematically ambitious at first glance, but it’s not really that deep.
And there’s a huge problem in the plot: Lorna, the administering shrink, makes a couple of decisions that are so obviously unprofessional — and dangerous — that it’s impossible to continue seeing her as a credible researcher.
In other ways, Prebble, who was a writer and producer on Succession, is no slouch as a storyteller. Her dialogue flows. It’s often passionate and witty. Individual sentences and images are evocative. As the drug does its work, Connie says she feels like the weather is inside her. And, when Lorna is painfully depressed, she says, “I don’t have enough skin.” I know that sensation. Actor Meghan Gardiner’s delivery of the line is heartbreaking.
The caveat about the false step aside, Prebble knows how to build tension while playing variations on her themes. The emotional arcs she has constructed for her actors are enormous, multi-textured, and challenging.
Andy Kalirai is dazzling as Tristan, moving from saucy little fuckboy — the first time we meet the character, he’s flirting with Lorna, the shrink — to genuinely charming and openhearted guy, to desperate and volcanic lover. Kalirai’s performance is operatic in its depth and range.
The same is true of Paige Louter’s Connie, who is intelligent and wary until she implodes in the face of tragedy and finds herself. Gardiner draws a clean line connecting Lorna’s reserve to her dissolving. Anthony Santiago effectively emphasizes Toby’s humanity when the text allows him to do so.
Monica Emme’s set is appropriately clinical and dramatic, and Jack Goodison’s rhythmic sound design supportively tense.
There are so many admirable accomplishments in the realization of a text that left me cold thematically.
THE EFFECT by Lucy Prebble. Directed by Jiv Parasram. A Rumble Theatre and Itsazoo Productions coproduction at Progress Lab until November 22. (Tickets and information)
PHOTO CREDIT: (Andy Kalirai as Tristan and Paige Louter as Connie. Lighting by Phil Miguel. Photo by Chelsey Stuyt.)
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