The Effect | 1hr 40mins. No intermission. | The Shed | 545 West 30th Street | 646-455-3494

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Normally, I don’t review the preshow, but the one at The Effect, well, slaps. Lights are low (watch your step!) and fog wafts through the Shed’s vaulted gloom. The air resounds with fat-bottomed beats mixed by Michael “Mikey J” Asante: bass-heavy EDM pierced by whoops and chanting, cranked up. Are we supposed to take our seat and peruse the program or krump shirtless on the narrow central platform? The white deck and low-hanging light rig remind you of a fashion runway or an underground dance club.

What does this have to do with Lucy Prebble’s 2012 play about a Big Pharma trial and messy human emotions, which director Jamie Lloyd (A Doll’s House) renovates with his trademark minimalist gloss? This revival opened last year at London’s National Theatre and arrives at the Shed for a limited run through March. Are Lloyd and designers Jon Clark (lighting) and George Dennis (sound) trying to hype us up for........

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