Family Tree, directed by Matthew Xia, greatly explores the era of segregation in the 1950’s, where Henrietta Lacks, performed by Aminita Francis takes to the stage to tell her story. 

Playwright, Mojisola Adebayo

Playwright, Mojisola Adebayo poetically enacts how Henrietta Lacks, diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, endured difficulty to find treatment, leading her to turning towards St Johns Hopkins hospital, being the only hospital, medically treating black people at the time. 

Production Photographs: Helen Murray

Aminita Francis, greatly enacts snippets of Henrietta’s personality as we see her disgust and detest for George Guy, the researcher for tissue culture at Hopkins hospital, who’d been trying to grow human cells outside of the human body for hundreds of years! We see the disturbance on Henrietta’s face as she dives in to the cheekiness, elaborating on how her cells were taken without her consent or knowledge and to be quite frank, why wouldn’t she!  

Setting the scene, we get a good feel for the other amazing actresses playing multi-rolling parts as ancestors and nurses, played by Mofetoluwa Akande, Keziah Joseph & Aimée Powell, expressing their annoyance towards exploiters like George Guy, and stress the importance on the roots of racial injustices and the disproportionate inequalities in health care who never gave credit to the descendants of Henreitta Lacks irresistible cells and black people as a whole who have contributed greatly to society world-wide.

The set design by Simon Kenny is remarkable, with glowing, hanging immortal cells on a tall branched tree, an expression for Henrietta’s forever growing and dividing cells for years, where every medical centre wanted it for research, spreading vast across the entire world. Becoming one of the most important concepts for medicine, being used for space emission to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity, created cancer medications, cloned for genes, helped to make the polio vaccine, mapping and the important ingredient used for all vaccines mankind injects, the entire world has undeniably benefitted from Henrietta’s cells. 

However we also see how the most important cancer cells used for medical research, took her life also in October 1951, at the age 31 , never knowing how important her cells would be, until a science writer worked with the family to discover the truth, the uncovered well hidden legacy 5 decades later. 

Family Tree is a strong reminder of what Henrietta has done for the world, and the mixed emotions of this incredible woman’s involvement in science especially, alongside the anger black people carry seeming everyone else can and has benefited from this, apart from black people, apart from the family. Immortal cells used all over the world for scientists research , labs and yet black people all over the world especially the family continue to suffer from basic health care. 

This production paints a family tree of Black women whose cells, blood and waters have birthed, raised and changed the world by preserving her legacy. Family Tree is a vocal statement about Henreitta’s life and the (HeLa) genome, science and communications, and race and science, the history of science and medicine, and how it was built on the backs of black people without their knowledge. The concepts of what blackness means in a world that refuses to accept and embrace true history. Especially the unique story of HeLA, who continues to save lives, giving life, as her special cells can invigorate fertilisation, people till today still report being able to give birth thanks to HeLa cells, which is one of the many beautiful impacts of an incredible black woman who has been denied her place in history, which director, Matthew Xia, highlights creatively.

Catching up with playwright Mojisola Adebayo after the play, was insightful. Mojisola Adebayo, has done an incredible lyrical justice by enabling this play to be a poetical masterpiece, by powerfully executing the realities of race, inequality, health, the environment and the incredible legacy of one of the most influential Black women of modern times, Henrietta Lacks, whose influence on modern-day medicine, is so relevant, it can and will never be forgotten. 

Family Tree metaphorically expands on beauty, in the context of honesty, life and our connection to nature, Orishi, the Nigerian goddess, talking trees, movement of expression through spiritual dance & connectivity. The power and manipulation of a slave owner is seen throughout this play, as well as many spiritual, ritualistic mediums of truth, love and ancestral rhythm which chants hope for all black people have lost, in the fight for power, peace and longevity. Family Tree is full of metaphorical, symbolic and spiritual codes, languages and passion, highly recommended!

This production will be touring nationally until, June 13 – 17. You can find out more about the production and book tickets here.

The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre co-production
Monday 10^th April 2023

(4 / 5)

Family-Friendly Monster Seeking Fun

Flossy and Boo productions have become a firm favourite with my family and How to Defeat Monsters (and get away with it) certainly didn’t disappoint. This co-production with The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre, provides an immersive, interactive experience with audience members being invited into the whacky world of Monster Seekers.

Audiences can choose between self-guided “Explore” experiences or “Performance” sessions. We attended a Performance session that was led by eccentric Monster Seeker Ramsden North and his eager pals Babbity Banesworth and Freddie North. The team introduced us to Chapter 36, the Newport branch of the monster seeking network. They explained that instead of defeating monsters, our mission as trainee monster seekers was to find out about them, discover new species and, most importantly, protect them from S.C.R.A.M – the Society for the Control and Removal of Awful Monsters.

We were invited into their impressive underground laboratory to practice our monster detection skills. The majority of the experience was self-guided, allowing the audience to explore an imaginative range of monster trapping devices and exercises, with the performers interacting with small groups on an adhoc basis. Occasionally the team stopped the action, bringing the audience together to inform them of a vital update.

The wonderful set design and dressing in the basement space really captured my children’s imagination. The space was full of creative, hands-on activities to help hone our monster seeking skills. Particular favourites included rummaging for monster food that was hidden in buckets of slime, donning hard hats to enter the tunnel of the brave, drawing monsters on a giant chalk board and packing a suitcase for an upcoming mission in the explorers tent.

The interactive elements made this experience really stand out. This style of performance was particularly great for younger children who might get a bit wriggly sitting for longer periods in a traditional theatre set up. The performers were clearly hugely experienced in improvising and responding to the audience. They made a point of speaking with each child and making them feel special by commenting on their brilliant discoveries, suggestions or questions. This was a lovely touch which gave the experience a personal feel.

It was unfortunate that S.C.R.A.M (who had an office upstairs) were back from their tea break so soon as this meant that our mission needed to come to close. We felt that we still had some more exploring left to do and could have stayed longer in the space.

Nevertheless, this was a brilliant creative experience to visit during the Easter holidays and we would definitely recommend it. The welcoming atmosphere at the Riverfront was an added bonus – we arrived early but the family sitting area equipped with shelves of books and toys kept everyone entertained.

Thank you to Flossy and Boo, Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre and Get the Chance for the opportunity to attend this performance – we had a great day out!

You can find out more about the production and book tickets here

Panto
Did you enjoy that?
No, panto’s not really my thing.

Well, I guess that’s one way to end the evening. Not the reply I expected.

How awful it must have been for them sitting next to me and my pal volubly joining in with every ‘Behind you’ and screaming ‘Sweet Caroline’ as prompted. It reminded me of a school trip to watch Jacques Tati films and failing to find any of them funny. Panto is either your thing or it isn’t and even if it is, sometimes it takes a conscious effort to enjoy the trip.

It certainly felt a bit trippy at times. I did wonder occasionally if a little soma was in the air in this brave new world of traditional panto meets … um…. What exactly? It followed the traditional styling of slapstick, political commentary, dancing, singing, inuendo and an eclectic collection of critters, gender role reversal, good defeating evil and a sound moral story.

Overstepping the mark is different for everyone – I couldn’t handle the Michael Gove bat. A bit too obvious, too crude for me. But that’s panto. It’s using humour to cross lines. And give parents something to explain to their children in the car on the way home.

The animal costumes were, frankly, odd. The feeling they had been plucked from the dressing up box in a rush gave them an odd sense of the amateur. Presumably deliberate not only to contrast with the extravagance of the lead role but to give more of the feel of waifs and strays. Quite unfair given the very enjoyable solo performances and by Cilla the Goose especially. And even more unfair given the utter rampant chaotic joy of the whole performance.

The sound was unclear at times and it struck me that their natural voices without amplification might have made for a more WMC like performance and a less confusing and weirdly sluggish start. But boy did it pick up pace!

The witches were extravagant comperes, pushing and pulling the chaos and glory of the story along in some style. Great singing too – really great in fact. Jack was appropriately clownish and played the audience well. Vic, Gabriel Fleary standing in for John Bishop, deserves special mention – what a generous and complete performance. And alongside Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen, who as Mother Goose runs the show. She headlines this old story and carries it in some style. Larger than life, bigger than everyone else on stage, Les Dawson and Grimaldi combined.

What a bird. And as my mother would have said, Less of the old if you don’t mind.

Aside: dear WMC, tinned wine is not the way forward. It really isn’t.

Going into this production, I had great expectations for it, because I read the book a few months back and it was so hard to put the book down! You went on an emotional rollercoaster and felt like you experienced it with the characters, like you knew what it was like to go through that because Christy Lefteri is a brilliant writer.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is an account of a Syrian couple’s dangerous journey to the UK, as their country is undergoing a civil war. It portrays a lot of harrowing events, including the loss of their son and Nuri’s memory is unreliable, as he remembers something different to what actually happened, or what his wife said happened.

The staff at New Theatre, Cardiff were friendly, approachable, and knowledgeable, and we had a drink voucher, so I got a cappuccino before it started, and it was delicious. The atmosphere in the theatre was excitable and the staff were very helpful and wanted to talk about it with us, so it was great before going in. They put on easy listening music when we sat in the theatre and they released the safety curtain a few minutes before it started, so we got a great picture of the set beforehand.

There was a cloth used as a wall (which was brought down close to the end of the show), two windows and an open door, they used multiple sand dunes, a bed (which was used in multiple settings; an actual bed, a place for Nuri and Afra to sit in the back of a van, and the boat crossing the border from Turkey, I believe) and there was an armchair embedded in one of the sand dunes. There was also part of a door by the chair, and it was used later on as a trapdoor, and they projected a clip of the actors being in the trapdoor, onto the back of the ‘wall’ of the set.

They used technology very well in the piece. They used lighting effectively to show when Nuri was talking to the audience, narrating, and they used Greek/ Arabic music at significant moments in the piece. They used the ‘wall’ to project all sorts of things for symbolism or just for you to visualise the scene, so they used an eye to represent Afra being blind from trauma and Nuri who was metaphorically blind, they used it to show bees, they used it when the characters were on the boat, and the sea was projected on the ‘wall’ as well as over the sand dunes.

When Mustafa (who’s Nuri’s cousin) was explaining to him what to do when the bees get angry, which was to become a tree, at one with nature, and he put his hands over his face, Nuri did it, and the cast came on with jackets that were evocative of bees, which was clever. At the end the whole cast came on, looked at their hands and put it over their faces as well which was a lovely and wholesome moment. At the end, when Nuri and Afra were on the beach, there was no accompaniment, or anything else, which was very effective and emotive.

The only difference between the actor playing Mustafa and the character in the bed and breakfast in the UK was one wore a bobble hat, and so the transitions between past and present were not entirely clear.

All in all, there were lots of lovely moments in the performance and they used technology very well to help the audience with visualisation, but I didn’t feel the theatre production came across the same way as the book did, and I didn’t feel very emotionally invested in their journey this time.