As he encounters his first ghost, cartoon miser Scrooge famously said: “You may be an undigested bit of beef.”
Connie, a young woman who has been sequestered in a clinical trial for antidepressants, has a similar question as she falls for fellow subject Tristan. Is their developing passion an expression of true love powered by naturally occurring dopamine or the side effect of the increasing doses of psychotropic drugs administered to them?
Connie (Becca Claire Hart) and Tristan (Kamani Graham) are two of the four characters in Lucy Prebble’s provocative play, “The Effect,” which opened in a regional premiere over the weekend at the Jungle Theater.
Prebble, famous for writing and producing the HBO series “Succession,” first wrote “Effect” in 2012. She has since revised it, updating elements and adding seemingly random American references — Tristan is from Louisiana and Connie from Delaware.
The beginning is a bit of clunky exposition. Isolated in a compound where they have no contact with the outside world, Connie and Tristan grow increasingly close. But Connie has a boyfriend back home.
The young people have a mirror in Dr. Lorna James (Christina Baldwin), who administers the drugs, and Dr. Toby Sealey (Greg Watanabe), a business owner.
Director Alison Ruth’s production is well acted and compelling. She orchestrates the 90-minute one-act as a tense interplay between cold, scientific precision and the messy things of the human heart and soul.

Dressed in ordinary attire, Graham and Hart rely on acting, not sex appeal, to power their work. And they both perform beautifully, recalling the joy one feels about watching Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show at the Super Bowl this year with excellent artistry and nary a suggestively half-naked body in sight.