The Effect

Written by Lucy Prebble and Directed by Maeve Carroll ’24, The Effect calls itself “a play for four people, in love and sorrow.” This play follows two clinical trial participants and the psychiatrists monitoring them. The medication they are testing is a new antidepressant that targets dopamine receptors, which inadvertently causes the trialists to feel as if they are falling in love. Prebble asks us to consider where love truly comes from; the head or the heart? Perhaps both? Or neither. This show is not suitable for children.