The Effect 
Bridewell Theatre, London 

HAVING had its debut at the National Theatre in 2012, Lucy Prebble’s clinical drugs trial drama is being given another welcome run-out at the Bridewell, an intimate and intriguing old space with modern steep-tier seating that gives it the feel of a medical lecture theatre.

There are indeed a couple of short medical lectures within the play, each delivered by one of the two senior medics overseeing trials of a new anti-depressant drug that are being administered to volunteers in increasingly high doses over the course of several days.

Toby (Daniel Saunders) is firmly wedded to the idea that depression is caused by chemical imbalance, and is a fan of what he calls “the psycho-pharmaceutical revolution,” while his colleague Lorna (Jessica Dawes), who has her own problems with the condition, is much less convinced, believing that melancholia has strong roots in environmental factors.