Lucy Prebble

THE EFFECT

The formula for happiness remains elusive, and the theory of love is still undeveloped. Yet, ultimately, we desire nothing more (and nothing less) from life than happiness and love, don’t we?

“The Effect” tells the story of two young people who struggle to discern whether their love is genuine or merely a side effect of antidepressants. They are part of a clinical study, but the physiological changes brought on by their feelings threaten to disrupt the trial – or turn it into a sensation if the researchers succeed in proving that love is a result of the medication being tested.

What poets have written about for thousands of years can come true… but, of course, there’s a caveat: if you have the right medicine. Love that arises on demand, happiness that can be activated with the right prescription from a doctor – whether it’s paradise or hell is up to you. The outcome depends on your perspective. What will you choose to believe in: love, medicine, or some third party profiting from the manipulation of human emotions?

Mental and physical health and well-being are at the forefront of modern affluent person's concerns. We take time to relax, spend time in nature and try to reduce stress. Yet there comes a point when we feel burnt out or pinned down, utterly helpless due to depression. Pharmaceutical companies, neurologists, psychiatrists and other experts continue to assert that depression – a state in which a person no longer desires anything from life – is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that can be "corrected". A little serotonin, a little dopamine, and everything should fall back into place. Others warn about the side effects of antidepressants, including substance dependence and the denial of one’s negative feelings.

British playwright and creator of the HBO series Succession, Lucy Preble, has received three Emmy Awards and three Olivier Awards for Best Play, including for The Effect. Her play The Effect presents an intriguing experiment: what if the drugs that make us happy also open us up to love? Could this be the true, foolproof formula for happiness and a theory of love? Or would it be just another lie – a self-constructed illusion to avoid confronting all of life's complexities: success and failure, happiness and sorrow, sickness and health?