Lucy Prebble’s psychiatric drama hits the stage like a challenge. In Soutra Gilmour’s design, the floor, an LED video screen, is a clinical white walkway; the performers are caught in the glare of Jon Clark’s lighting. Two banks of spectators confront each other across the action.
Director Jamie Lloyd is a great energiser and clarifier: he springs the subject of a play into physical life. His drive created one of the best reimaginings of a classic text I have ever seen in Cyrano de Bergerac. It had diminishing results in Pinter’s The Homecoming, where subtext was drowned out by declaration. His production of The Effect is unfailingly exciting. Even when – a bass thrums intermittently like a growling heart – it keeps telling you it is exciting. Even when its oppositional arrangements seem to simplify the play’s arguments.
