Benjamin Kilby-Henson’s direction of Lucy Prebble’s thought- provoking play, The Effect, opened to sell-out audiences at Auckland’s ASB Theatre late last week. The play dissects and disassembles the complex chemistry of love and desire and leaves spectators on the edge of their seats as they follow a four-week drug trial involving two young participants who navigate the ‘side effects’ with confusion and bewilderment, forming an inextricable bond.

The Auckland Theatre Company stages the tense drama phenomenally, with neon countdowns and drug dosages projected across the stage, the handiwork of lighting designer, Jane Hakaraia; throbbing heartbeats, and club tunes ricocheting through the drama, the creation of sound designer, Chelsea Jade.

Such avant-garde design elements are complemented by the utter commitment of the small cast and their embodiment of their characters’ inner conflicts and turmoil. In one such moment of amplitude, the glowing words “PAST” and “NOW” are cast across the set, as the young lovers, played by Zoë Robins and Jayden Daniels, and psychiatrists, played by Sara Wiseman and Jarod Rawiri, enact the quandaries surrounding the play. Who do we truly love and how do we know if we are happy?

Which feelings are real, and which are an ‘effect’, initially (we think) of drugs, and later, we learn, of myriad complex psychologies, involving trauma, social conditioning and self-talk.

The acting and dialogue unravel their private and connected histories with riveting momentum as we follow the trial’s progression towards impending disaster. The drama is constant— this is exceptionally entertaining theatre— unsurprising given the playwright’s credentials as Bafta, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning author and producer of HBO TV series Succession. There is humour, peppered liberally in amid the tense moments, showing the full spectrum of human connection, as protagonists Connie and Tristan fall headlong in love in the most trying circumstances.

The rumbling sentiment of ill-fate culminates in a medical mistake that results in Tristan in hospital with amnesia, and Connie at his bed. Mental health issues such as amnesia and depression are played with such care in this piece of theatre, a credit to the actors and intimacy director, Miriama McDowell.

The ending of the play is unresolved for the couple, as they leave the hospital to their new uncertain life together, and the doctors are left to contend with the failure of their medical trial and guilt at the harm caused. The triumph of the production is in the acting, as the script is littered with moving lines. One such example is when Wiseman, playing a guilt-ridden and depressive Dr Lorna James, writhes on the floor, whimpering “I have no skin”. It’s moments in the dialogue like this, when the pathos of the play shine, permitting the audience a window into deeply human experiences, like depression.

With an innovative use of set and stage design, comedic timing, on-stage chemistry and groovy soundtrack, this production is a great achievement, lodging itself in the hippocampus.

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