Asking huge questions

THE Lace Market, as it invariably does, hits the ground running with its first offering of the year. Done as an upstairs studio production, Lucy Prebble's The Effect is an engrossing piece of theatre which asks huge and fundamental questions, not only about the state we're in but what exactly we are as individual persons. Given this basic premise, it is also of course very funny.

Two young adults: bright and pretty Connie and inarticulate and cocky Tristan (Riana Howard and Jamie Selfridge, both Lace Market Theatre newcomers) are subjects in a commercial clinical trial being managed by psychiatric doctors Toby Sealey (Malcolm Todd, who also directs) and Lorna James (Lynn Burgess, also in her Lace Market Theatre debut). All four performances are terrific, particularly those from Todd and Burgess, which are realistic and well observed.

There's an initially jerky flirtation between Tristan and Connie - not unexpected in such a confined environment - which by the end morphs into something else. But along the way there's a spotty-backs-rolling-about-on-a-bed episode which, like all such scenes on stage, manages to be entirely unerotic.

And as well as other revelations, the relationship between the two professionals turns out to be more than first appeared - the play is something of a twists and turns thriller. There's a Partial explanation as to why a clinical trial, the experimental design of which has got so fouled up, hasn't been abandoned as a dead loss. Conflicts of interest and medical ethics come into it, but there are other the issues.

At the end of the play, with its strong element of genuine, unselfish love, as well as sadness, you might well be left pondering. Is the human animal nothing more than a bunch of chemicals in complex interaction, or is something even More indefinable and mysterious at work?

"The Effect" by Lucy Prebble
Lace Market Theatre

I’ve had the joy of seeing this play performed before in 2017 at the Nottingham New theatre and loved the story, so it was with real anticipation that gripped me when I found out that this play would be the first play to be performed at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre for 2019. And what a start!

The play, and the writer, Lucy Prebble, credits the audience with the intelligence to make their own minds up about what they see. This is a controlled – to a certain degree – experiment on human behaviour while on a drug controlled scheme and a psychiatrist is tracking their behaviour, but we in the audience are the ones really keeping watch.

Can drugs control our emotions? Are these emotions less real if enforced? Can love be forced? Can opposites really attract? Just some of the questions that you may find yourself running over in your mind as you watch "The Effect"

The intensity is heightened by being set in the upstairs performance space making this even more intimate, and you’ll feel like you’re the fly on the wall as you see both sides of this experiment.

The two volunteers start as polar opposites. Connie Hall (Riana Howarth) and Tristan Frey (Jamie Selfridge) could not be more different. Tristan is more streetwise having applied for these type of experiments before, wanting the money from the experiment to fund his latest foreign trip while Connie’s is her first time so a bit wet behind the ears where this sort of experience is concerned. Tristan is more outgoing, cocky some may say, single, while Connie has a reserved edge and is in a relationship.

Dr Toby Sealey (Malcolm Todd) and Dr Lorna James (Lynn Burges) also , as we learn are opposites, character wise, and for anyone who has not read the play or seen it will find it exciting to discover in what way as we go through the play, and their outcome in this play.

Riana and Jamie both make their debuts for the Lace Market Theatre in this play, but both of these young actors have credible theatrical CVs and are a great addition to the Lace Market Theatre stable.

They play their characters really well with a natural feel, well they are playing characters who are in their age range so it looks and feels natural, as is their language.

Lynn also makes her Lace Market Theatre debut but has worked with Malcolm previously. With three quarters of the cast making their debuts for Lace Market Theatre, you can't help but get excited about what is in store for the future.

Directed by Malcolm Todd, he has tweaked parts of the play to make this play more localised and up to date, but that is only because I've seen the play before that I noticed this.

I love that there are parallels between the two pairs of characters within this story and within both, there is a great deal of passion from all four actors. Even though I knew the ending, these four actors still delivered the shock factor.

This style of writing is perfect for this intimate environment and magnifies every emotion, giving you plenty of sharp intakes of breath moments along the way.

This play also goes to show that you don't need a great set to deliver a great story, because while the set is sparse, the prop count is massive for this one. I think about 140 props, thanks to Alistair Hudson, who also stage managed the play.

Clever use of projection gave another dimension (Gareth Morris), and sound (Jack Harris) and light design (Philip Hogarth) created more atmosphere. the costumes were by Marie Morehen.

"The Effect" is at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 12 January 2019, but as is the norm at the Lace Market Theatre, they have currently sold out every night so your only chance to experience this thought-provoking play is if any tickets are returned, though goodness knows why that would occur.

Make sure you get in early for the next production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" later this month!

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