The Effect

A thriller that isn’t one, almost. A love story that isn’t one, almost. A drama, certainly and inevitably. The scientific framework for Prebble’s investigation mirrors that of the narrative – you set up an experiment, you have a control, you record the results: but in both constructs, as in life, something goes awry.

Under Sarah Goodes’ direction these revelations are beautifully sustained at their cusps for what seems like impossible lengths. Prebble has written two great and complex female roles in the morally strong but internally conflicted Dr James, and the brash and intelligent Connie – Angie Milliken and Anna McGahan respectively bring them brilliantly to the stage. The dramatic culmination of Dr James’ journey, however, does turn what was a brilliant derailment momentarily to caricature. Mark Leonard Winter too deserves praise for the broad innocence he brings authentically to all the emotions the wayward Tristan bursts through; likewise Eugene Gilfedder for making the selfish and darkly charismatic Toby so thorough that we see his father’s brain and not a fleshier Yorick’s skull on stage.

Occupying the seemingly impossible space where unquantifiables – emotion, the soul, love – are square pegs in the round holes of science and reason, this slick production asks a simple question but arrives at thought-provoking results with broad consequences.