The Effect

Who I am
Is not
A side effect.

Hearts and minds racing, Connie and Tristan are falling for each other fast. But is their sudden and intoxicating chemistry real, or a side effect of a new antidepressant?

As two young volunteers in a clinical drug trial, their illicit romance poses startling dilemmas for the supervising doctors.

Lucy Prebble’s funny and intimate examination of love and ethics originally premiered in 2012, becoming an instant modern classic. This edition revised and updated edition is published to coincide with the production at the National Theatre, in August 2023.

Lucy Prebble is a writer for film, television, games and theatre. Lucy is Executive Producer and writer on the BAFTA, GOLDEN GLOBE and EMMY award-winning HBO drama SUCCESSION, for which she has also won a WGA and a PGA Award. She is the writer and co-creator of I HATE SUZIE and I HATE SUZIE TOO which was nominated for five BAFTAs including Best Drama, Best Writer and Best Actress and won her the Royal Television Society Award for Best Writer. It was a huge hit for Sky, topping many major publications’ lists for best shows of 2020 in both the UK and the US where it is available on HBOMax. She is also the creator and writer of the TV series SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL(ITV/Showtime), and made a pilot for HBO starring Sarah Silverman.

For theatre, Lucy has written the political and emotional meta-thriller A VERY EXPENSIVE POISON which was a sell-out, five star hit for the Old Vic in 2019 and was Olivier nominated for Best New Play, It won the Critics Circle Award for Best New Play and Best New Production of a Play at the Broadway World Awards. It also won her the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Before that, THE EFFECT, a study of love and neuroscience, was performed at the National Theatre and also won the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play. Lucy is the writer of the infamous ENRON, a hugely successful piece about the infamous corporate fraud, which transferred to the West End after sell-out runs at both the Royal Court and Chichester Festival Theatre and then failed on Broadway. Her first play, THE SUGAR SYNDROME (2003) won her the George Devine Award and was performed at the Royal Court.