The Effect
Image: Photo: Aaron Tait
Connie and Tristan are polar opposites who sign up for a new anti-depressant drug trial. As the dosage goes up they fall in love – but is this the real thing or just an adverse side effect? Does it matter? Analysing the results from an objective distance are doctors Lorna and Toby. They used to be involved with each other but now that’s history – or is it? Is love the drug? Is the chemistry right? This is The Effect, a new play by young English playwright, Lucy Prebble.
“It’s a play that asks more questions than it answers,” says Sarah Goodes (Vere) one of STC’s co-resident directors. “It is very much a story about love and falling in love, but it also poses the question – are we just the sum of our chemical reactions or do we have souls?”
Rising star Anna McGahan (House Husbands, Underbelly: Razor) plays Connie while Mark Leonard Winter (Thyestes) plays the unemployed drifter, Tristan. One is a ‘thinker’ and one is a ‘feeler’. The contrast drives much of the play.
A play about depression could be, well, depressing – but Goodes is upbeat. “Lucy Prebble writes with such a fabulous sense of humour, so she is able to reflect the dark side of life with this wonderful warmth and sense of the ridiculous.” (GW)
Jul 12-Aug 16, Sydney Theatre Company, Pier 4/5 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, $50-99, (02) 9250 1777, sydneytheatre.com.au
