Das Experiment

(Pic from here)

Went to see an interesting play on Saturday. The Play is called "Das Experiment: Black Box". It is based on a German Movie. Which was based (loosely) on the Stanford Prison Experiment, a psychology experiment I remember studying in Psychology at school.

In a nut-shell, a group of people sign up for an experiment, in which, half will play the part of prison guards, half as prisoners. The are left in a 'mock prison' with the guards being given instructions on how to behave and how the prisoners days should be structured. This is pretty similar to the original experiment, which was stopped after 6 days because the guards and prisoners got too involved in their roles....

The cast was an interesting mix of western and local actors, with a couple of very impressive performances. (Really should have bought a program). Interestingly the play was performed in something similar to part of a mall, with a large balcony above the main area (the prison) being used as the guards room and scientists' observation rooms. This actually worked pretty well, especially as the prisoners managed to keep in their roles very well and using their body language excellently.

The part I found most interesting wasn't so much the interaction between the prisoners and guards, but the interaction between guards. The guards started with a mix of personalities, and gradually pressured and coerced each other in to conforming or ignoring what was going on. For me, the end was a bit too Hollywood, I would have been happy if they had stretched out the first half, where tensions build and people slip into their assigned roles.

An interesting exploration of the psychology of conformity and power.