Simon Ward reviews The Effect at the Old Red Lion Theatre

Many people, your reviewer included, will have seen writer Lucy Prebble’s The Effect during one of its runs at the National Theatre. This production vividly demonstrates the thrilling power inherent in witnessing great work in the intimacy of a fringe space. We are brought right up close to these characters in a way that is simply not possible on a bigger stage. And since the play at its heart is about our most intimate feelings and relationships, it is all the more compelling.

Directed by Sam Edmunds, the play centres around two young people, Connie (Millie Smith) and Tristan (Shadrach Agozino), who are taking part in the trial of an anti-depressant drug led by Dr Lorna James (Sara Odeen-Isbister). Her supervisor, and, as it turns out former lover, is Dr Toby Sealey (Andrew Pearson-Wright). As Prebble works through the questions and consequences that arise from this scenario, we are forced to confront searching questions about our own thoughts, feelings and motivations.

Inevitably, as two young people thrown together for an extended period of time with all distractions removed, Connie and Tristan start to develop feelings for each other, in spite of the strict ban on sexual activity, and Connie’s sort-of boyfriend on the outside. And the tensions between Lorna and Toby are never far from the surface, even if he has moved on with a new partner. We are asked to consider how much free will any of us actually has if our moods and feelings depend on a balancing act of chemicals in the brain. But if, as we feel, there is much more to it than that, then what does it really mean to be depressed? If it is not the same as feeling sad, what, exactly, is it? And what if the wild racing heart and obsessive thoughts we have when we are falling in love are, in fact, a kind of madness?

These are thorny questions and Prebble does not flinch from digging deep into them. There is, in the end, a kind of strength to be found in facing up to them, even if there are no definitive answers. And there is another level of love, beyond the initial racing-heart excitement, which can endure and form the bedrock of a life. If you can find it within you, the chance to change focus from yourself onto another can be liberating and ultimately richly rewarding.

This is an endlessly fascinating play, given a beautifully acted and brilliantly detailed production here – lighting by Sam Edmunds and sound design by Gabriel Burn are outstanding. Whether the mind and the brain are one and the same is an unfathomable question, but the genius of this play is to bring it vividly to life in a compelling and insightful way. If everything is merely the effect of something else, what does it mean to feel anything? Prebble shows us exactly what it means by giving us characters we fall in love with, in spite of ourselves. An exciting production of a wonderful play.

The Effect is running at the Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 John St, London EC1V 4NJ until Saturday 11th July