The Effect--San Francisco Playhouse

I have been seeing a lot of plays in the Bay Area recently.  Last night, I was at the San Francisco Playhouse and saw something that was interesting that blew my mind about science and medication.  It was The Effect and I was amazed.

Keep in mind, a few times I wondered if I would fall asleep because I was dead tired and have not been in the best mind-frame.

The premise is this:  two people, Tristan and Connie, are participating in a research study in a controlled environment.  Connie is new to this kind of study and Tristan has participated in this kind of research before.  The psychologist supervising this study, Lorna, makes sure nothing, absolutely nothing, deters from getting the results she needs, including keeping the participants separated from each other, especially when they fall in love.

Now, experiments are amazing things but also can be dangerous when handled improperly.  For one thing, not all experiments go to plan.  Things can happen midstream no one things about ahead of time, like hidden dangers of drugs.  Also, participants can lie about their medical history and omit information that was could be important, like any types of drugs you have been on before or having seizures in the past, like Tristan obviously did.  Also, the experiment could be controlled due to personal agendas of the supervisor, like Lorna, who had a relationship flop from her colleague, Toby, who feels he contributed to an affliction of hers.

I won't give away a lot of the play and the synopsis but I will comment on the experiment itself and my viewpoint.  Obviously, from seeing it, neither Lorna nor Toby foresaw the effects, not side effects, the effects of what this experiment could lead to.  Of course, in science you never know what could happen in an experiment but when you do an experiment for personal, selfish reasons that have nothing to do with the intended goal, it can lead to devastating consequences.  It happens in this play, and I have seen it in real life and it has happened to me.  (Details will be omitted her, but will fully be ready to comment on a moment's notice).

I did not see the ending coming on this one, but I believe it was needed to help understand the meaning of the theme--the trials and tribulations of using experiments on  new drugs.

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