The Effect

by Lucy Prebble

Overview

A Student Edition of Lucy Prebble's acclaimed 2012 play, which looks at two people on a clinical drugs trial and investigates questions around sanity, neurology, physical attraction and the possibilities of medicine.

The edition includes commentary and notes by Paulette Marty, which look at the context around depression and anti-depressant medication; as well as delving into major questions posed by the play, such as "is love real?" and "what is chemistry when applied to human beings?".

Her commentary also looks at the play in production, the implications of the playwright having written the roles for particular actors, and the opportunities that arise from the playwright encouraging future actors to "mould the text around themselves".

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350439702
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/19/2023
Series:	Modern Plays
Pages:	88
Sales rank:	133,894
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 0.19(d)

About the Author

Lucy Prebble's plays include The Sugar Syndrome (George Devine Award 2004 for Outstanding Debut Play and the TMA Award for Best New Play); Enron (Best New Play at the TMA Theatre Awards); and The Effect (Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play 2012). TV series include Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Lucy Prebble is the recipient of the 2004 Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright.

Paulette Marty is Professor of Theatre Arts at Appalachian State University, USA. She teaches theatre history, play analysis, dramaturgy, directing and cross-disciplinary topics. She is the author of Contemporary Women Stage Directors: Conversations on Craft (Methuen Drama, 2019).

Table of Contents

CHRONOLOGY

COMMENTARY
Context
Depression and Dopamine
Anti-depressant Medications
Drug Trials
Other Plays by Lucy Prebble
Themes
Is This Love Real?
Can We Trust Our Feelings?
Other Artists
Chemistry
Religious vs Materialist Views
Laboratory vs Real World
In Production
Casting & the Implications of Writing for Particular Actors
Critical Response

PLAY TEXT

NOTES

Editorial Reviews

A palpably intelligent [play] that proves ... that Prebble is one of the long line of dramatists who view medical practice with a rational scepticism.” —Guardian

“What makes The Effect so special is that as well as being a play of ideas, it is also deeply moving, both in its depiction of the giddy wonder of love, and also in its account of the terrifying wasteland of depression itself.” —Daily Telegraph

From the Publisher

This is a knotty drama, dealing with scientific objectivity, guilt, the mysteries of the human heart and brain and what makes us who we are, wrapped up in a deceptively simple and constantly entertaining package.

Guardian

Lucy Prebble's absorbing drama, a hit . . . Taut, intelligent

The Times

The Effect is a headlong delve into the mysteries of the human brain. And Prebble pulls it off with assurance, tickling our cerebellums in the first half, before tugging on our heartstrings in the second . . . heartbreaking . . . [it has] a heart as well as a brain.

Time Out

Incisive dialogue . . . Prebble really researches and the range of her subjects suggests she will have a long theatrical life

Observer

Prebble has written a profound and stirring play. The material is complex but always accessible, the drama serious and informative yet deeply human, with the odd jolt of piercing humour. The Effect confirms her as one of the most intelligent voices in British theatre.

Evening Standard

After her hit with Enron, Lucy Prebble turns to medicine and the mind - to great effect ... The Effect is a four-hander that hopscotches confidently across themes of neurology, psychopharmacology, depression, love and guilt . . . The Effect moves you to thought, sometimes to strong feeling.

Sunday Times

This four-hander brings the author's agile wit, intellectual penetration and a fresh, deeply affecting empathy to bear on a fundamentally much more complex topic than finance: brain chemistry and what it can - and cannot - tell us about the causes of severe depression and the experience of being in love … This is a provocative and challenging play … it ends in edgy gesture of good sense that made me feel like cheering.

Independent

Lucy Prebble's follow-up to Enron is a scintillating exploration of the clash between scientific advance and human impulse … it demonstrates the same vivid, provocative intelligence

Financial Times

Lucy Prebble is a playwright blessed with an exceptionally fine mind . . . the play struck me as being both wise and sane, raising more questions than it answers, to be sure, but that seems a sign of integrity in a work dealing with such a complex subject. But what makes The Effect so special, is that as well as being a play of ideas, it is also deeply moving, both in its depiction of the giddy wonder of love, and also in its account of the terrifying wasteland of depression itself . . . The Effect is an astonishingly rich and rewarding play, as intelligent as it is deeply felt.

Daily Telegraph