MARK TURNER holds on tight for a mesmerising display of Neath-born ragtime virtuosity
Ineffective
MARY CONWAY points out that superb acting and production can't remedy a contrived idea
Paapa Essiedu (Tristan) and Taylor Russell (Connie) in The Effect
[Marc Brenner] 
ALAN MORRISON introduces a UK poet whose despised daytime occupation provides the subject for his writing
MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long
PAUL DONOVAN recommends three new books that explore the human relationship with nature
Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller
WILL STONE takes a ticket to indie disco heaven, but misses the rarely performed tunes
The Effect
National Theatre - Lyttleton
THE EFFECT by Lucy Prebble is being revived at the Lyttleton Theatre. First shown at the smaller Cottesloe in 2012, it commanded attention at the time for its star casting, and also as a test piece for the playwright after her acclaimed play Enron.
The Effect sets out to explore what, in philosophical terms, is really an old chestnut, namely: whether our brains are just mechanical devices determining our behaviour or whether we do indeed possess an independent, causal self.
Tristan and Connie are participating in a mind-changing drugs trial run by a posh psychiatric clinic that pays guinea pigs well. The question thrown up by the trial is: what of this couple’s thinking is simply drug generated and what “real”? When they seem to fall in love, what does this mean?
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