By
Judith Johnson
London Schools tour Mon 22nd Feb - Fri 26th March 2010
‘Starfish’ is set in a small
British town and tells the story of Adrian and his
son Michael. After the death of his wife when Michael
was small, Adrian brought up Michael (now in his
20s) alone. A somewhat protective father, Adrian is
now happy to see Michael grown up and teaching
Design and Technology at the local sixth form college.
He is proud of his son.
Shannon, one of Michael’s students,
suffers from ‘social phobia’, otherwise
known as extreme shyness. She finds it hard to come
to college and take part alongside the other students,
but she is a talented artist and, with Michael’s
gentle help, she is working towards her A Level.
Saira moves back to the town to take
up the post of GP, vacated by her father who has recently
died. This is Saira’s first job and her father
is a hard act to follow. He was very well respected
by the townspeople and regarded highly in his work. She
misses her Dad very much and has doubts about her own
abilities.
Saira’s first patient is Shannon,
who comes to the surgery to find out about a treatment
for ‘social phobia’. Saira finds it hard
to deal with Shannon’s shyness and ends up scaring
her away. Later, she bumps into Adrian, out jogging.
Adrian remembers Saira because she was in the same
class as Michael at school. They reminisce about old
times and talk about Michael, how well he’s doing,
how proud Adrian is. Before long though, Michael has
developed a mysterious and very serious illness, and
Saira’s doctoring skills are pushed to the limit.
‘Starfish’ looks at the importance
of clinical trials through the stories of Michael,
Shannon, Adrian and Saira. Shannon gains confidence
through visits to the virtual online world ‘Second
Life’ recommended to her by Michael. She is able
to re-visit Saira and together they explore the option
of Shannon taking part in the testing of treatments
for ‘social phobia’.
Meanwhile, Michael’s illness develops
at an alarming rate. Desperate, Adrian finds out about
an untrialled treatment on the Internet. But should
he put his son through something that has never been
properly tested?
Judith Johnson
Summer 2008
For further information
about this project, email our
Tour Producer David Jackson
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