Review: FAMILY TREE, Brixton House

Stepping into the recently opened cultural beacon, Brixton House I was immediately inspired by the feeling of freshness, modernity and innovation the architecture and design had. It is welcoming, comfortable and clearly a unique space.

Family Tree, directed by Matthew Xia, is about Henrietta Lacks; a woman who made one of the greatest medical contributions after her cells were taken from a cervical-cancer biopsy. "HeLa" cells became the first immortal human cell line to reproduce infinitely in a lab. The piece teaches us about how Lax's cells today are still helping with polio, cancer, herpes, Covid 19, flu and continue to be widely used to advance biomedical research and medicine.

The play is told in an episodic structure; between the various veins of black women throughout history. Three NHS nurses in 2023 who bicker about the complications of black lives and the vaccine denial, a terrible tale of three black female slaves being used in early gynaecological experiment and mixed in with passages from the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, then Henrietta Lax telling her own story. The play touches on themes of nature, DNA and cells. It fiercely highlighted the decentralised movement of Black Lives Matter and highlighted the battle against racism, discrimination and racial inequality.

Aminita Francis playing Lax gives a soulful and boundless performance. Mofetoluwa Akande, Keziah Joseph and Aimée Powell playing the other characters magnetically bounce off each other as they share their characters narratives.

The three beg for a cure for white supremacy and a vaccine for racism. A helpless cry out of questions like 'why do they think white people can colonise, enslave, feel self-satisfied? How can a skinny Swedish woman Greta Thunberg miss school and gets heaps of attention, whereas a man has to be sat on for people to listen to history?' The audience winces at the hard-core truth of their bitterness; our world's undeniable, unconscious bias. Viscerally hitting our guts and allowing us to feel the pain, guilt, frustration and anger; this is the beauty of theatre and the tremendous effect it can bring.

Mojisola Adebayo's writing combines racism with parallels of nature; asking us more questions of why didn't nature do anything when slaves were being drowned in boats? Why did nature let us down? The production combines lighting, sound and music ethereally when a DNA molecule tree in the middle of the set begins to light up and speak the words of beautiful metaphors. Imagery of the red woods of California and philosophical ideas that nature continues even when unexplainable poison is seeped into it's roots. Music and dance are perfectly added to enhance this continuous cultural celebration of black woman.

The style of language is staccato and random. There is no doubt Adebayo has talent and writes with gravitas. The first half feels punchy and clear. However, the latter half is let down by too much information and too many themes combined, which in turn makes the storyline confusing and the message somewhat unclear towards the end.

We come out with a link to a care package; there is no doubt their aim is to provoke affect and stimulate action and thought and there is no doubt this is achieved. A complimentary cup of kidney bean soup immerses us even more into this experience and allow the pungent taste to persist even longer. An incredibly profound and forthright piece of theatre. We need much more of this.

Family Tree is At Brixton House until 23 April

Photo Credit: Helen Murray

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