How would you feel if you found out that a part of your DNA, the basic biological factor that makes you the person you are, was out there in the world, growing and living a life of its own, and you had no control over it? This is the essence of HeLa, a one-woman show based on the forgotten story of Henrietta Lacks, a cancer patient who died at the African-American ward of the racially segregated John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in October 1951, without knowing that her cells lived on despite her. The cells played an integral role in shaping medical science as we know it and yet most of us are not even familiar with the name.
Directed by Graham Eatough and performed by Adura Onashile, and brought to Mumbai in collaboration with Q Theatre Productions (QTP), this Scottish production inspired by the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, raises significant questions about ethics and ownership concerning human cell testing. The show, that took place at Sitara Studio, combines video and music elements with monologues and physical movement. While the video snippets are used to explain the scientific implications of the use of the HeLa cell line through history, Onashile plays a range of characters from Henrietta's family to the hospital staff at John Hopkins with an insouciant charm. The stories illuminate the delicate human complications of the research undertaken. As the play progresses, we learn that it was not until the early seventies, when scientists approached the Lacks family for their DNA samples as well, and it was then that the Lacks family learnt about the existence of Henrietta's cells. To them, the scientific significance of the HeLa cell line was eclipsed by the idea of their mother's essence being scattered all over the world.
Without the use of any complicated scientific jargon or paraphernalia, the play manages to explain the rather dense concept of an immortal cell line and the impact that this discovery has had on modern science. What is appreciable is that the piece avoids a perfervid melodramatic approach to Henrietta's story. The proportion of her contribution is made palpable simply by the mention of the number of discoveries and developments owing to her cells. Her tragedy is conveyed through this seemingly happy story of scientific progress. At the heart of the issue is the question of how much ownership one can claim on one's body and its countless tiny parts. The play also touches upon the historic attitudes concerning race and science in the US, bringing to light the fact that the bodies of thousands of African Americans have been used for medical research, often times without their permission through the darker periods of American history. The play also highlights the delay in providing compensation to the Lacks family for their agony, broadening the scope and relevance of the play with respect to the countless other instances of medical disregard beyond Henrietta's case.
The play, which enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, vividly captures the gravity and complexities of medical ethics, and is an apt tribute to this unsung heroine of scientific endeavor. The concise show (it runs under an hour) packs a lot of substance but the script could do with some more dramatic flair in emphasising the uniqueness of the story it tells. One gets the sense that the creators seem to have shied away from indulging in the greatness of the tale. But what it somewhat lacks in terms of spectacle, it beautifully makes up for in terms of clarity and fleet-footedness.
*Saudamini Kalra is a student of theatre and occasionally a poet.
