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This funny, moving and perhaps surprisingly human play explores questions of sanity, neurology and the limits of medicine, alongside ideas of fate, loyalty and the inevitability of physical attraction.

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I can tell the difference between who I am and a side effect.

The Effect is a clinical romance. Two young volunteers, Tristan and Connie, agree to take part in a clinical drug trial. Succumbing to the gravitational pull of attraction and love, however, Tristan and Connie manage to throw the trial off-course, much to the frustration of the clinicians involved. This funny, moving and perhaps surprisingly human play explores questions of sanity, neurology and the limits of medicine, alongside ideas of fate, loyalty and the inevitability of physical attraction.

Following on from the critical and commercial success of Enron, The Effect offers a vibrant theatrical exploration into the human brain via the heart. It received its world premiere at the National Theatre´s Cottesloe Theatre in November 2012, starring Billie Piper and Jonjo O´Neill.
It is published here in the Modern Classics series alongside an introduction by Miriam Gillinson.

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Lucy Prebble is a playwright blessed with an exceptionally fine mind . . . the play struck me as being both wise and sane, raising more questions than it answers, to be sure, but that seems a sign of integrity in a work dealing with such a complex subject. But what makes The Effect so special, is that as well as being a play of ideas, it is also deeply moving, both in its depiction of the giddy wonder of love, and also in its account of the terrifying wasteland of depression itself . . . The Effect is an astonishingly rich and rewarding play, as intelligent as it is deeply felt. Daily Telegraph

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Lucy Prebble lives in London. Her smash-hit play, Enron, transferred to the West End and Broadway in 2010 after sell out runs at both the Royal Court and Chichester Festival Theatre. In addition to the huge critical acclaim it has received, Enron also won the award for best New Play at the prestigious TMA Theatre Awards, and was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Award 2009. Lucy created the TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper, which enjoyed three series and was sold to Showtime, the major US channel famed for its daring dramas. Lucy won the prestigious George Devine Award 2004 for her outstanding debut play The Sugar Syndrome in May 2004, followed by the TMA Award for Best New Play in October 2004. She also won the 2004 Critics´ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. Lucy was also nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer Award at the Olivier Awards 2004, shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award 2003 and nominated for the prestigious Evening Standard Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award 2003.

Lucy Prebble´s smash-hit play, Enron, transferred to the West End and Broadway in 2010 after sell out runs at both the Royal Court and Chichester Festival Theatre winning the award for best New Play at the prestigious TMA Theatre Awards, and was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Award 2009. In 2004 Prebble won the prestigious George Devine Award, followed by the TMA Award for Best New Play and the Critics´ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright.

Miriam Gillinson reviews theatre for Time Out and The Arts Desk, and writes about children´s theatre for the Guardian. She is a script reader for Sonia Friedman Productions, Playful Productions and United Agents, reads for the Bruntwood Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and works as a Quality Assessor for The Arts Council.

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