The Effect - NT Lyttleton

“ they use pulsating noise to mark intense parts” - I swear most directors do this

I saw this tonight and, in my opinion, never has the use of pulsating music been more appropriate, as it has an "effect" on the audience, and it not only successfully (for me) has that effect, but it also has a corresponding meta-effect, whereby Jamie Lloyd's visceral manipulation of the audience echoes the psychiatrists' manipulation of their patients.

I absolutely LOVED this version of the play, a completely original take on the material, just as I loved Rupert Goold's original Cottesloe version. They are very different and complementary takes on the material. Of the two, I marginally prefer this version, precisely because of the way it positions and manipulates the audience.

My only caveat is that you do have to imagine you are living in a world where blind, double-blind and triple-blind trials (per the comment above) are not quite a thing, but that is on Prebble (who gets everything else right), not Goold or Lloyd.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Anyway, Lloyd's style of directing is not fixed, it's always evolving. Anyone who didn't like those experiments in listening, that were "The Seagull" and "Cyrano de Bergerac" can rest easy that this is no simple repetition of that style. After all, someone has noted that Lloyd directed "She Stoops to Conquer" at the National, and that was a traditional period costumed comic joy.

Lloyd's manipulation of the audience begins as soon as you enter the auditorium to thumping low beats and a traverse theatre with a rake so steep the two sides of the audience are almost at war with each other. Indeed, the rake is so steep that even though the stage is in the middle of the auditorium, nonetheless the stalls go right up to meet the circle in a clean line! Even a basketballer (my eternal dread) sitting in front of you couldn't obstruct your view lol!

The intense psychological effect of the environment is of arriving at a massive event, like a boxing match, ready to do battle, if only with your own mind.

As to the background music, that persists through the show, albeit at varying volumes, I recall how I once got free tickets to that Finsbury Park "Rage Against the Machine" concert (to celebrate the X factor failing to reach Number 1 in the Charts lol), and not knowing their music, I listened on my iPod walking down the street. Suddenly, I really wasn't myself at all: I was a kind of Terminator not to be messed with! I was shocked at how alien I felt to myself.

Everything Jamie Lloyd does here conditioned me similarly: the steep rake, the pulsing music, the sight of the similarly lined up mirror audience on the other side, and the lowered lighting rig (which must move grandly upwards to signal the production's start) suggested a massive event about to happen.

When the event did start, the spotlit monochrome white outfits and hoodies, on the two trial patients (Papa Essiedu and Taylor Russell), suggested saintly boxers or maybe astronauts about to go where noone has gone before!

In the wings, the ever-present, often-seated, clinician-psychiatrists (Michele Austin and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) were dressed in similarly monochromatic, yet oppositional black outfits, worldly-wise controls physically and psychologically corralling and containing their saintly innocent astronauts of the mind.

And the event we had all been primed and waiting for was Lucy Prebble's characters' words, broadcast by microphones like in "The Seagull," with the effect of personalising those thoughts and words, even at the level of a whisper, but acted naturalistically for us under the spotlight, more like the relationship in the play, "Constellations" than in the frozen experiment of Lloyd's "The Seagull."

The omnipresence of the watching clinicians on stage, Michele Austin all compassion, Holdbrook-Smith all intellectual distance, heightened the vulnerability of their patients' interactions, the sense of threat, just as Zawe Ashton, Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox once threateningly circled each other in Jamie Lloyd's "Betrayal."

That Lloyd has multiple effects at work here, some of which we've seen before from him, but never all together: the intimate audio, the bass music as if the auditorium has a heartbeat, the grand positioning of the audience for a great event, lighting like Caravaggio, the oppositional postures of the actors toward each other, the awareness of the audience of each other - all these things enhance the themes of the play but also highlight Lloyd's ever-continuing evolution as a director, intent on creating visceral experiences that are unique to theatre.

I loved the performances in this play too: Russell is reassuring gentleness, an affected submission to those around her that can't quite hide a piercing intelligence and aloofness; Essiedu is unpredictable and funny, alternately relaxed and wired; Austin is deeply thoughtful and compassionate and Holdbrook-Smith is sinisterly quiet (avoiding eye-contact in a fastidious way that made me fear a potential eruption of violence, like he once scarily erupted as Ike Turner in the Tina Turner Musical) but when he does break his silent musing, and looks up, his erudition and manners are perhaps scarier still , in the context the play.

Enjoyed this on Friday evening. The concept is immediately interesting, and Lucy Prebble's writing is consistently entertaining and thought-provoking. The transformation of the Lyttelton is impressive, adding a new level of tension and observation for the characters. Soutra Gilmour's set design is predictably sparse, but complemented by stunning lighting design from Jon Clark which nicely punctuates the action. This is alongside intense sound design by George Denis, with an original underscore, which adds a sense of pace and really heighten the power of the text.

As he does best, Jamie Lloyd allows the text to shine, with his classic H&M costume design and use of mics for amplification. Performances from Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell are convincing - the chemistry between Tristan and Connie isn't quite captivating yet, but I imagine that it'll settle very nicely further into the run. As mentioned by others, Michele Austin is a real standout, and Dr James feels like the real focus of this production (I'm not sure whether this was true of the original production, but the spotlight does feel a little misplaced on her.)

It received a very quick standing ovation on Friday, and I think that this will be a hit with younger audiences. It's effortlessly cool and relevant to current discourse surrounding mental health. In my opinion, another immense success in the Lyttelton this year.

I really enjoyed this on Friday night, just as I remember really enjoying the original. Excellent performances all round.

It's staged very differently from its Cottesloe debut and the Lyttleton is unrecognisable (a reason to go by itself), but I found the fold-down stadium seating they're using throughout the stalls to be extremely uncomfortable - and very narrow. Prepare to brush closely against your neighbour(s). An interval would have helped relieve some of the pain.

Fantastic to see such a young and diverse crowd at the National, too.

4/5

Poll please, BurlyBeaR!

We have tickets for the circle to see this later this week. Is the circle configured as it normally is? I'm finding it hard to get my head around the way the theatre has been changed for this production.

Thankyou sallims

I saw the original production with Billie Piper and enjoyed it very much. For me this new production is just boring and I really struggled with it. Maybe it's because I was familiar with the story and I knew the twists. The acting was at best adequate and the staging just awful. Not sure if they were trying to create a dystopian atmosphere. Whatever it was it didn't work for me.

I though the production here suited the material, and the cast gave it their best. Perhaps the stripped back nature of the production helped reveal more clearly that the play itself is unfortunately tripe of the highest order.

Another Jamie Lloyd trainwreck!

Michelle Austin is the star of this by a country mile - virtually acting everyone else off the stage - really enjoyed her.

Paapa was good, but not great, and I thought the other two (particularly Taylor Russell) to be pretty poor actually - I understand it's her stage debut but she simply wasn't good enough to keep up with the others.

I guess the design was fine, but I felt it belonged to a different play and not this one.

It's a good play (anything by Lucy Prebble usually is), but as usual with JL productions you would hardly have any idea it was well written.

3 stars, just - but it got a standing ovation so what do I know.

Transferring to off-Broadway. I think Park Avenue Armory might be a good fit, Lehman Trilogy played there.