Theatre Review: Family Tree, Brixton House

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Mojisola Adebayo’s Family Tree couldn’t be more apt for TBP to review, because this is a show that has black life, art, culture and knowledge on full display. It combines play, poetry and performance to tell the story of Henrietta Lacks - a Black woman whose body and cells were used without consent and without compensation to her family, despite being the foundation of decades of medical and scientific breakthroughs.

HeLa. That’s what they named her cells - for years attributing them to a woman called Helen Lane, a name that sounds decidedly less melanated than Henrietta Lacks. HeLa. Healer. And Mojisola uses her play to show that Henrietta is not a unique case. Not by a long shot, because across history that is what the Black woman has been. Healer without consent. Whether that was the women of the 19th century being put through hell by Dr James Marion Sims, their bodies used and abused over and over for the advancement of medicine they couldn’t access. Or whether it was the patients of the 1950s USA who could access care at only one hospital for free, only it wasn’t free. Because the cost was they were cut and sliced and swabbed and bits taken away without consent to be used for medical research. Or whether it was the Black women of today working in the NHS, but dying prematurely because of the outdated belief that Black people feel less pain, or they need less care, and so procedures go wrong and complications are ignored. Healers who won’t be healed.

It is a beautiful production, heavy, heartfelt and yet humour is thread throughout. Aminita Francis shines as Henrietta, holding her with the respect she didn’t get in life. It’s a small cast, Mofetoluwa Akande, Keziah Joseph and Aimeé Powell playing both the modern day NHS staff and the women used as test subjects in the 19th century. The standout performance for me comes from Mofetoluwa Akande in the scenes as Oshun, the river orisha in Yoruba custom.

There are moments towards the end where it begins to feel slightly clunky - a couple of scenes that perhaps don’t add as much by being included, as they would if they were removed. And at 90 minutes without an interval, you do feel those scenes sitting awkwardly.

However, the way it highlights the importance of an intersectional approach to race, humanity, politics, social mobility, history and environment is powerful. It does a marvellous job of saying what we been knew: this world would be nothing and nowhere without Black people and the gifts we gave willingly, and the ones they took without consent. Overall, this is an incredibly intelligent and accomplished piece that educates as much as it entertains.

Family Tree is at Brixton House until April 23rd, with tickets between £17-£21.