Coal Mine’s ‘The Effect’ takes you into the story

The effect

By Lucy Prebble, directed by Mitchell Cushman. Through July 30 at the Coal Mine Theater, 2076 Danforth Ave. coalminetheater.com

Better life through chemistry?

The pharmaceutical industry has been promising this for nearly a century, and debates about whether prescription drugs improve people’s lives or are one great societal addiction enabled by Big Phama rage on and on.

Lucy Prebble’s 2012 play “The Effect” translates such questions into a gripping drama currently having its Canadian premiere at the Coal Mine Theatre. Mitchell Cushman’s intense, inventive production is a big step toward ironing out some of the less plausible elements of Prebble’s script and is anchored by a stunning performance from Aviva Armour-Ostroff, who leads a perfectly cast ensemble of four .

The setting is a drug trial: two twentysomethings, Connie (Leah Doz) and Tristan (Aris Athanasopoulos) find themselves attracted to each other while taking increasing doses of an antidepressant, but is their attraction natural or the effects of the medication’s dopamine? Armour-Ostroff plays Lorna, the doctor who monitors them, and Jordan Pettle plays Toby, the famous psychiatrist leading the trial.

Toby and Lorna’s complex history adds emotional interest to their intellectual and moral debates about whether depression is a disease and antidepressants its panacea (his point of view) or the symptom of greater worry and related to external factors (her point of view) . Meanwhile, the sexual energy crackles between Doz and Athanasopoulos as Connie and Tristan circle closer, defying the rules of the trial, but perhaps also playing to the bigger agenda.

English writer Prebble scored a major UK theater hit with ‘Enron’, in which he portrayed the circumstances leading up to the bankruptcy of the US energy giant, and was a writer on the hit TV series ‘Succession’. She has an excellent facility with believable dialogues, able to imbue actors with layered meanings and deadpan humor at times.

Known for directing site-specific performances, Cushman embraces the small size of the Coal Mine auditorium and, along with his frequent collaborator Nick Blais (design of lighting, set and props), essentially turns it into an immersive environment. Most of the action takes place in a rectangular playing field in the middle of two raked benches with seating for the audience, with the actors moving the slats of cleverly designed chairs to turn them into stretchers and MRI beds.

Cushman cleverly choreographs entrances and exits and often allows characters to remain on stage while they are not active in a scene, keeping production fast and underscoring the way the two halves of the story relate. James Smith’s sound design and musical compositions add even more emotional texture.

Boldly, a long scene is played in complete darkness except for a cell phone flashlight, with the action extending through the aisles of the theater and even up to the ceiling. There is well-treated and extended intimacy on stage (coordinated by Aria Evans) and the audience must be prepared for stage violence.

The ingenious staging drew me into the storytelling and kept nagging questions about plot and theme largely at bay throughout the show, though they haven’t gone away since. Wouldn’t there be external controls to protect participants if the drug trial takes a thriller-like turn? And the play descends into gender stereotypes by mostly making the men sparkle and seduce, while the women question themselves and suffer (that said, maybe this annoys me because it sounds so true).

Credit to Prebble, though, for writing such a wonderfully rich role for a mid-career actor like Lorna, whose very principled attitude and deadpan wit are the crusty surface layer of someone with personal interests in the mental health debates in which she is so savage deals with Toby and Connie.

Armour-Ostroff’s performance is a slow-rising storm, initially so coolly good with the patients, little bursts of vulnerability showing in her exchanges with Toby, then ascending to a devastating release of emotion.

Pettle is almost disturbingly convincing as the sides Toby, and Doz and Athanasopoulos separately and together as very different young people deal with a high-stakes situation and discover new aspects of themselves and each other.

This intense, clever, well-produced drama is great for Coal Mine and a strong end to their first season in their new home with Danforth and Woodbine. Bring a smart friend: you’ll want to talk about this later.

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