A performance production company, committed to the artists, right in the heart of Freo.
The Effect
by Lucy Prebble
May 18 - June 3
A difficult and touching exploration of the rarest thing. The dearest thing:
The tiny spark that binds two hearts.
Hearts racing. Minds reeling. Knees buckling. Connie and Tristan have palpable chemistry — or is it a side effect of a new antidepressant?
They are volunteers in a clinical trial, but their sudden and illicit romance forces the supervising doctors to face off over the ethical consequences of their work. THE EFFECT takes on our pill-popping culture with a scalpel edged humour and delivers scintillating drama.
The big question is:
If you love someone, does it matter why?
Fremantle Theatre Company is thrilled to present this incredible piece of theatre from the co-executive producer and writer of HBO's massive success SUCCESSION.
The creator of TV’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl and I Hate Suzie!, Lucy Prebble. The Effect is currently poised for a huge remount in London and for very good reason: Prebble is killing it on screen, and is the original wunder-mind behind mega-award-winning stage-shows Enron, The Sugar Syndrome & A Very Expensive Poison. All kicked-off by this incredible break-out debut play!
“… 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."
— Charles Spencer from The Telegraph
“… This is a provocative and challenging play … it ends in edgy gesture of good sense that made me feel like cheering.”
— Paul Taylor from The Independent
“Prebble has written a profound and stirring play. The material is complex but always accessible, the drama
serious and informative yet deeply human, with the odd jolt of piercing humour. The Effect confirms her as
one of the most intelligent voices in British theatre.” — Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard
“…Smashing…plays like a thriller…The story keeps unwinding in fascinating, organic directions…
What started as a clean and narrowly defined ‘situation’ play by the end leaves you feeling you have
experienced a hefty chunk of human possibility and despair.” —NY Magazine.
Lucy Prebble has won 2 x Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 x Writers Guild of America awards, a Pene De Prata Award, 2 x PGA Awards, and has been nominated for several BAFTAs, Emmy’s and an Olivier Award for Best New Play, 2 x Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play and the 2020 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize - and let's not forget the big win for The Effect, that took out the top prize of the UK Critic's Circle Award for Best New Play.
The Effect
Cast & Crew
Director – Pippa Grandison
Cast
Dr Lorna James: Carla Bonner
Dr Toby Sealey: Oliver Wenn
Connie: Caitlin Ashley Thompson
Tristan: Adam Sollis
Composer, Arranger, Sound Design and Performer: Anna Sarcich
Intimacy Director: Steph Power
Designer: Renato Fabretti
Lighting Designer: Matthew Erren
Projection Design: VJ-Zoo
Stage Manager: Krista Barker
Producer: Pippa Davis
Production Assistant: Tayah Lee-Traub
Intern: Thom Stewart
Set Build: Onstage Arts
Head Mechanist: Ellick Higson
Front of House: Mahala Parkins
Media Partner: Function Labs
Winner Winner
Fremantle Theatre Company is pleased to announce that the company won the Excellence in Creative Industries section of the Fremantle Business Awards 2022 presented by the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce on the 15th of September.
The Board would like to thank all our supporters, our audience, our fabulous casts, and crews for their contribution to this success. And a big thank you to the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce for this acknowledgment.
We look forward to bringing you more excellent work in the coming years, starting with Shakespeare in the Park, and Twelfth Night in December/January.
Our Space
Fremantle Theatre Company is now at home in Freo's own Victoria Hall on High Street . We can now open our doors to our new audience and begin to offer professional arts training from the city centre, for all.
Each of our courses are truly invigorated by the old bones and inviting space of this grand theatre.
The continued residency will allow the company to properly support the development of works with new voices along side the work of more established artists.
The space will make exploration into dance, theatre, music and film far more readily available to the local community and offer a truly sustainable practice for artist keen to work from their own shores, here in WA.
Boasting a newly outfitted Education Space and Rehearsal Room, our Downstairs Ready Room, the Victoria Stage and Hall, as well as company office spaces, the venue will act as an incubator to all of the works that we hope to bring to Fremantle.