The Effect, National Theatre review ★★★★★
Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell bring fine chemistry to Jamie Lloyd's revival of Lucy Prebble's The Effect, about volunteers on a clinical drug trial
Paapa Essiedu (Tristan) and Taylor Russell (Connie) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
What external factors could affect a clinical drug trial? Two of the participants falling in love would certainly be one. Such is the premise of Succession writer Lucy Prebble’s play The Effect, which is being revived at the National Theatre – where it premiered in 2012 – in the hands of visionary director Jamie Lloyd (The Seagull, Cyrano de Bergerac).
Stepping into the roles of the trial’s subjects, originally played by Prebble’s pal and frequent collaborator Billie Piper opposite Jonjo O’Neill, are ascending stars Paapa Essiedu (A Number, I May Destroy You) and Taylor Russell (Bones and All), in her professional stage debut.
Taylor Russell (Connie) and Paapa Essiedu (Tristan) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
Tristan (Essiedu) and Connie (Russell) are the willing guinea pigs on a drug trial for a new form of antidepressant. As their doses are gradually increased, their feelings for one another intensify. However, one of them might be on a placebo. The puppet-masters of this trial, clinical psychologist Dr Lorna James (Michele Austin) and her senior Dr Toby Sealey (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), worry that the pair’s feelings for one another might be impacting the effects of the drugs they’re taking, or vice versa, but who is really in control of this wayward experiment? Oh, there are plot twists aplenty in this clever, meandering play.
Tristan and Connie were written as contrasting figures, but Lloyd brings a fresh dynamic to their differences by having Essiedu and Russell weave in elements of their own backgrounds: east London and rural Canada respectively. Essiedu brings a natural ease to the laid-back but volatile Tristan; we get the sense he lives worlds away from Russell’s uptight, fretful and softly spoken Connie. Yet, when the two first get together – a scene danced as much as acted as boundaries are explored – we believe in their chemistry.
Taylor Russell (Connie) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
The doctors, meanwhile, have their own stuff going on. While it’s through these figures and their twin brain-holding soliloquies that Prebble voices the point that there’s a lot we still don’t understand about depression, the two of them are fleshed-out characters just as integral to the story, and soon their personal hang-ups peep through their professional identities. Austin brings a shielded vulnerability to the part of Dr Lorna James, and Holdbrook-Smith’s slick, smug Dr Toby Sealey knows just how to trigger her sensitivities.
Lloyd is a master of abstract stage directions: when Tristan and Connie talk about passing phones or touching test tubes, they don’t physically do it. When they take a pill, they don’t mime that either, a light blinks above their heads instead. As ever with his productions, it's just as effective.
Paapa Essiedu (Tristan), Taylor Russell (Connie) & Michele Austin (Dr Lorna James) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
Soutra Gilmour’s white strip stage coupled with Jon Clark’s frigid lighting lend the production its clinic setting. The traverse staging, with the audience either side of the action, furthers the sense the participants are specimens trapped in a glassless incubator observed from the outside. At 100 minutes straight through, it’s an intense piece, made all the more so by composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and sound designer George Dennis’s throbbing soundscape, which keeps us on tenterhooks.
This is the first major revival of Prebble’s play and also the first chance many viewers will have had to see it live. It’s also a reminder this malleable play has plenty of mileage in it yet.
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Stepping into the roles of the trial’s subjects, originally played by Prebble’s pal and frequent collaborator Billie Piper opposite Jonjo O’Neill, are ascending stars Paapa Essiedu (A Number, I May Destroy You) and Taylor Russell (Bones and All), in her professional stage debut.
Taylor Russell (Connie) and Paapa Essiedu (Tristan) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
Tristan (Essiedu) and Connie (Russell) are the willing guinea pigs on a drug trial for a new form of antidepressant. As their doses are gradually increased, their feelings for one another intensify. However, one of them might be on a placebo. The puppet-masters of this trial, clinical psychologist Dr Lorna James (Michele Austin) and her senior Dr Toby Sealey (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), worry that the pair’s feelings for one another might be impacting the effects of the drugs they’re taking, or vice versa, but who is really in control of this wayward experiment? Oh, there are plot twists aplenty in this clever, meandering play.
Tristan and Connie were written as contrasting figures, but Lloyd brings a fresh dynamic to their differences by having Essiedu and Russell weave in elements of their own backgrounds: east London and rural Canada respectively. Essiedu brings a natural ease to the laid-back but volatile Tristan; we get the sense he lives worlds away from Russell’s uptight, fretful and softly spoken Connie. Yet, when the two first get together – a scene danced as much as acted as boundaries are explored – we believe in their chemistry.
Taylor Russell (Connie) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
The doctors, meanwhile, have their own stuff going on. While it’s through these figures and their twin brain-holding soliloquies that Prebble voices the point that there’s a lot we still don’t understand about depression, the two of them are fleshed-out characters just as integral to the story, and soon their personal hang-ups peep through their professional identities. Austin brings a shielded vulnerability to the part of Dr Lorna James, and Holdbrook-Smith’s slick, smug Dr Toby Sealey knows just how to trigger her sensitivities.
Lloyd is a master of abstract stage directions: when Tristan and Connie talk about passing phones or touching test tubes, they don’t physically do it. When they take a pill, they don’t mime that either, a light blinks above their heads instead. As ever with his productions, it's just as effective.
Paapa Essiedu (Tristan), Taylor Russell (Connie) & Michele Austin (Dr Lorna James) in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
Soutra Gilmour’s white strip stage coupled with Jon Clark’s frigid lighting lend the production its clinic setting. The traverse staging, with the audience either side of the action, furthers the sense the participants are specimens trapped in a glassless incubator observed from the outside. At 100 minutes straight through, it’s an intense piece, made all the more so by composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and sound designer George Dennis’s throbbing soundscape, which keeps us on tenterhooks.
This is the first major revival of Prebble’s play and also the first chance many viewers will have had to see it live. It’s also a reminder this malleable play has plenty of mileage in it yet.
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| What | The Effect, National Theatre review |
| Where | National Theatre, South Bank, London, SE1 9PX | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Waterloo (underground) |
| When |
01 Aug 23 – 07 Oct 23, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM |
| Price | £20 - £89 |
| Website | Click here for more information and to book |