Tristan Frey (Joe Estlack) and Connie Hall (Ayelet Firstenberg) begin a clinical trial for an antidepressant in “The Effect” at San Francisco Playhouse.

THE EFFECT is a SF Playhouse Crowd Pleaser

San Francisco Playhouse is staging “The Effect” through April 28. We saw it. We liked it. So did Bay Area critics. Written by  Lucy Prebble and directed by Bill English, it has won the praise of arts writers for both the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner…where such agreement is rare indeed.

Is it a romantic comedy? A comedy of manners? A Comedy at all?

No matter. Quite entertaining.

Here’s the plot:

Connie and Tristan are falling head-over-heels in love—or is that just a side effect? As volunteers in a clinical trial for a new super-antidepressant, they can’t really be sure. As their sudden romance heats up, they’re left wondering if they can believe their own feelings, and their doctors are forced to consider the ethical consequences of their work. Winner of the UK Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play, “The Effect” takes on our pill-popping culture with humor and scintillating drama.