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Ineffective
MARY CONWAY points out that superb acting and production can't remedy a contrived idea
Paapa Essiedu (Tristan) and Taylor Russell (Connie) in The Effect
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The Effect
National Theatre - Lyttleton
THE EFFECT by Lucy Prebble is being revived at the Lyttleton Theatre. First shown at the smaller Cottesloe in 2012, it commanded attention at the time for its star casting, and also as a test piece for the playwright after her acclaimed play Enron.
The Effect sets out to explore what, in philosophical terms, is really an old chestnut, namely: whether our brains are just mechanical devices determining our behaviour or whether we do indeed possess an independent, causal self.
Tristan and Connie are participating in a mind-changing drugs trial run by a posh psychiatric clinic that pays guinea pigs well. The question thrown up by the trial is: what of this couple’s thinking is simply drug generated and what “real”? When they seem to fall in love, what does this mean?
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