By Kimberly Rau
The Gamm opens its 2024–2025 season with Lucy Prebble’s “The Effect,” a one act play directed by Steve Kidd that focuses on a clinical trial for a promising new antidepressant that goes off the rails when two of the participants fall in love (or do they?).
The show opens with Tristan, an optimistic young man taking a “gap year” who’s ready to see the world, and Connie, a psychology student with an answer for everything. They’re under the care of Dr. Lorna James and Dr. Toby Sealey, the latter of whom is at least partially responsible for the research that created the nascent wonder drug. Over the course of the four-week inpatient study, Tristan and Connie form an intense bond that feels like love, but is it just the drug? The conflict that comes from that uncertainty has ramifications for all four individuals that extend well beyond the scope of the clinical trial. The things that were taken as certainty are suddenly questions, the things that were questions have crystallized into the truest of truths…at least for the moment.
Told over the course of an hour and a half, Prebble’s “The Effect” tackles self-perception, love, and mental health in a scathingly honest light. (“There are no side effects,” Lorna snaps at Toby after questioning the safety of his drug. “Only effects you can’t sell.” Anyone who has ever been surprised to experience one of the so-called “rare” side effects of a given prescription can relate.) The end is full of questions, because we don’t get a denouement for anyone, only a brief glimpse of their next path. Whether that’s for a moment or a lifetime is anyone’s guess.
Tristan is played by Anthony T. Goss, who gave a beautiful performance as Lincoln in Gamm’s 2023 production of “Topdog/Underdog.” Tristan is always looking for new experiences, which is one reason he is involved in the drug trial. He needs travel money. He’s also open and honest, something Connie struggles to get her head around. Tristan must go from a relatively carefree soul to someone tortured by emotion and side effects in under two hours, and Goss is a strong choice for the role.
Gabrielle McCauley, last seen as Honey in Gamm’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is Connie, the textbook psychology student who thinks she has all the answers (and, to add one cliché on another, is dating one of the professors at school). When she feels like she is falling for Tristan, she is quick to blame it on the trial drug.
At first, I felt frustrated listening to McCauley interact with Goss. It felt like she was responding with the right words, and the right emotions, but they weren’t connecting, either with the audience or Tristan. And then comes the moment where the two are alone, Connie lets her guard down, and the energy in the room felt electric. McCauley is an impressive, subtle actress who tells you everything you need to know about her character in those moments, and you realize nothing about her performance is unintentional. It was a breathtaking moment.
From then on, McCauley and Goss’ characters went from two people putting up a front to two people deeply connected with each other, from carefully worded interactions to a literal dance. Love, or drugs? Does it matter?
Gamm veteran Jeanine Kane is Lorna, the highly intelligent and vulnerable doctor who has her own history with Toby that extends beyond the professional. As she monitors her trial subjects, doses, and vital signs, she must also navigate her feelings and personal history with mental health issues. Kane, always exceptional, delivers the kind of performance that has become synonymous with the high quality we’ve come to expect from Gamm. As usual, she does not disappoint.
Stephen Thorne, a longtime resident actor at Trinity Rep in Providence, makes his Gamm debut as Toby, the psychopharmacologist who got into medicine to understand the brain (much to his surgeon father’s confusion). Toby is looking for the magical pill that could cure what ails the psyche (and, given that he’s on at least his second engagement when we meet him, with a string of affairs to boot, we get the sense this search for “the one” goes deeper than antidepressants). It’s a role that requires a seasoned actor to find the nuance and empathy within the character, and Thorne does very well with it.
The show itself is solid, though there are things in the script that feel undercooked, including a bit with a model brain that gets revisited once but seems gimmicky compared with more abstract moments. Overall, I don’t think “The Effect” packs the same punch as some of Gamm’s past season openers, but I also think that’s more of a testament to the high bar Gamm has set for itself than it is a knock on the script. This is a well-performed, well-presented think piece of a show that is bound to keep you talking after you leave the theater. Bring your literary friend, grab a drink after and be prepared to dissect what you’ve just seen. Sounds like a good night out to me.
“The Effect” runs through Oct. 13, 2024, at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick. Tickets may be obtained at the box office, online at gammtheatre.org or by calling 401.723.4266.
