“I can tell the difference between who I am and a side effect”
HCX recently got a sneak peak of EUTCo’s ‘The Effect’, which will be showing from the 1st to the 3rd of December, and we can tell you now, this mind-bending play is one you won’t want to miss!
‘The Effect’ tells the story of two young volunteers, Connie and Tristan, in a clinical drug trial, isolated without connection to the outside world for weeks as doctors study the effect of the drug on their bodies. As the trail goes on Connie and Tristan can’t ignore their increasing attraction for each other, skewing the trail results, to the dismay of the doctors. The catch? Connie and Tristan know the drug is supposed to elevate moods, leaving the couple and the doctors’ wondering: are their feelings for each other real, or simply a side effect of the drug?
When talking to the director Alex about why he wanted to put on this play, he explained that he loves how ‘The Effect’, written by Lucy Prebble, tackle so many big issues and scientific ideas in a way that is accessible and interesting, while still being funny and moving. ‘The Effect’ dives into philosophy and science, sanity, neurology, even religion, questioning the limits of medicine, how we experience reality, the control we have over our emotions.
Alex and the whole cast and crew were also drawn to the way it challenges preconceptions about mental illness, like how a single label: ‘depression’ can truly explain the complexity of what so many different individuals experience. ‘The Effect’ is also an interesting commentary on the drug industry, critiquing the motivations of the people who work in it, and the potential of a pill to solve unhappiness.
“We are our bodies. Our bodies are us.”
The play is tech heavy and with its clinical environment will make the audience scientific observers, keep you on the edge of your seats as you interact with the story, try to assess the characters as tensions rise, determine how much of their attraction is real. Equally, it will make the audience question themselves and their own emotions, how much can you trust what you feel, is there such a thing as the real, true ‘you’?
To sum it up, Alex told us, it is a bit of a mind f**k, fun to direct and, we hope, equally fun to watch.
Performed on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of December at 7.30pm in Kay House, Duryard. Tickets are £3.50 for members and £4.50 for non members.