Theater News

Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell to Bring The Effect to New York City

The National Theatre production of the Lucy Prebble drama comes to the Shed with its recent company intact.

David Gordon
New York City
Paapa Essiedu Tristan and Taylor Russell Connie in The Effect at the National Theatre. Photo by Marc Brenner 0914 1
Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell in The Effect at the National Theatre
(© Marc Brenner)

The five-time WhatsOnStage Award-nominated National Theatre/Jamie Lloyd Company revival of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect will come to the Shed for an exclusive American engagement, March 3-31.

Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) and Taylor Russell (Bones and All) lead The Effect as Tristan and Connie – two volunteers who fall in love during a drug trial. Quickly, they worry if their infatuation is real, or if it’s brought on by the antidepressant. They’re joined by Michele Austin (Cyrano de Bergerac) and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), all reprising their performances from the London production earlier this year.

Jamie Lloyd directs The Effect, with set and costume design by Soutra Gilmour, lighting design by Jon Clark, composition by Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, sound design by George Dennis, movement direction by Sarah Golding and Yukiko Masui (SAY), fight direction by Kate Waters, and intimacy coordination by Ingrid Mackinnon.

Essiedu, Russell, and Austin are nominated for WhatsOnStage Awards for their performances, with Clark’s lighting also receiving a nod. The Effect is also up for Best Play Revival. The WhatsOnStage review called it “a rivetingly intelligent evening.”