Theatre review: The Effect packs powerful doses of dark humour and difficult truth

Rumble Theatre and ITSAZOO’s sleek production of an unsettling, uncanny drama by Lucy Prebble explores our choices in a pharmaceutical-driven world

By Robert Kuang

The Effect. Photo by Chelsea Stuyt

Rumble Theatre and ITSAZOO Productions present The Effect at Progress Lab 1422 to November 22

BRITISH WRITER Lucy Prebble’s 2012 play The Effect follows two volunteers in a clinical drug trial of a new dopamine-regulating medication, and the ethical and personal complications that arise when they start to fall in love. As with Prebble’s work on the Emmy Award–winning HBO series Succession, the dialogue shines when opposites attract and collide. At its peak, her writing brims with equal measures of dark humour and difficult truth. The play’s quartet of characters is divided into two couples, and their scenes of verbal sparring—whether amicable or adversarial—are arguably the highlight.

Paige Louter and Andy Kalirai portray volunteers Connie and Tristan. Connie’s hypervigilance and loneliness are anchored by Louter’s presence, in a role where many of the character’s deeper truths must be conveyed without dialogue. In a captivating turn, Kalirai dives headfirst into a character that demands range and commitment, emotionally and physically. What could feel like a mismatch in another piece works to The Effect’s advantage, causing the audience to question whether their chemistry is trustworthy or prescribed, and whether that even matters.

Much of the play’s pharmaceutical narrative rests on the shoulders of two doctors, portrayed by Meghan Gardiner and Anthony Santiago. Prebble takes what might otherwise be stilted, largely symbolic agents and transforms them into a wizened couple well past their first chance encounter. Between the meta-commentary on mental health and capitalism, the rules of the trial, and the history between Dr. James and Dr. Sealey, there is a lot for the audience to digest. For the most part, Gardiner and Santiago handle these shifts with ease and conviction. Gardiner, particularly, brings a mix of gravitas and fragility that helps land several key moments in the play. If Connie and Tristan carry the emotional core of The Effect, Dr. James’s journey examines the thematic tension between science and reality, knowledge and experience. Judging by the audience response, Connie and Dr. James are resonant and timely characters who capture the intersectional nature of sexism, ableism, and medicine.

As the dosage goes up, so does the sense of unease and danger.

Following his directorial work on the Arts Club Theatre Company’s Cambodian Rock Band and Bard on the Beach’s Measure for Measure, Rumble Theatre artistic director Jiv Parasram has crafted a non-stop 90-minute ride that runs on precise timing. While the story takes some time to establish its rhythm, once the clinical trial begins, each round of dosage allows ample scene work and organic escalation. Parasram expertly weaves every component of the production into a fast-tempo composition that never repeats itself and, at times, delivers genuinely harrowing moments that grip the audience. As a collaboration between Rumble Theatre and ITSAZOO Productions, this production demands your attention from beginning to end.

For a story that justifies a sterile environment, the design team instead taps into a modern, sleek aesthetic that is enhanced by Progress Lab’s industrial space. Set, prop, and projection designer Monica Emme cleverly employs mirrors to create a heightened sense of scrutiny for the characters, and to allow the audience to see angles it would otherwise miss. This is complemented by Phil Miguel’s lighting design, which contrasts the fluorescent undertone of the trial with the euphoric moments between Connie and Tristan. Visual projections of intake forms and increased dosages work in tandem with Jack Goodison’s Thomas Newman–esque sound design to create hypnotic scene transitions. Here, colour and sound are not simply expressions of the characters’ emotional state, but side effects. As the dosage goes up, so does the sense of unease and danger.

The Effect benefits from the enduring prevalence of its subject matter, but that also presents a double-edged sword. Although it makes a poignant critique of pharmaceutical-capitalist interest, the narrative is more focused on character motivation than on the plot about research ethics and clinical settings. What does clearly resonate is Prebble’s reflection on mental health and the gravity of our choices about it, without letting systemic factors entirely off the hook.

For a contemporary play already rich with timely themes, this production does not simply rest on the strength of Prebble’s writing, but reimagines its moral quandaries. As a theatrical experience, it is well worth our time and support.

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