THE EFFECT by Couch Theatre

“Lucy Prebble’s The Effect”

Reviewer: Jemima Yong
Performance: 8 September 2015

Here, in The Effect, we focus on Tristan (Johnson Chong) and Connie (Krissy Jesudason), two young subjects on a clinical trial for new anti-depressants that increase dopamine levels in the brain. But who is the control in this experiment? Who is on the placebo? As dosages increase, a parallel relationship between administering psychiatrist Lorna (Chio Su Ping) and her employer Toby (Prem John) reveals fundamentally opposing views on how and when to medicate mental illness.

Couch Theatre has made a stunning choice of script to present. Lucy Prebble’s skilful four-hander serves up a compelling human narrative on a plate of fundamental questions about neuroscience, medicine, illness and life. What do we consider ‘real’ love and depression to be? Is the love experienced by the medicated mind, less legitimate? With more questions than answers, The Effect opens up discussions around mental health that is sorely lacking. We leave this performance thinking, reflecting and talking to each other. At what point does sadness become clinical depression? How useful is it to analyse our human experiences through chemical levels in the brain?

In this iteration, there tends to be more of a focus on the general picture rather than its finer details – the semi naturalistic set of white blocks coupled with largely conventional sound and lighting serves the physical rather than metaphorical aspects that the text affords. I feel that more ambition needs to be pursued here. The ensemble holds the text together with tactile chemistry and ease; this gives the entire performance a lovely charm. Ziyad Bin Ahmad Bagharib’s direction appears slightly insecure; the taut pacing needs to allow for more breathing space for the audience. It felt like I was being held on to tightly even though they were far from ever losing me. I want to place my hands on everyone’s shoulders and say, “relax, trust yourselves.”

There is no doubt that Couch Theatre is an intelligent company, working towards a practice more refined, innovative and confident. They’ve already made the excellent decision to tell great stories whilst cutting their teeth, all they need to do now is to throw themselves into the deep end and they may find something extra-ordinary. There is a lot of potential here… I’ll be watching this space with anticipation.