How To Be Immortal @ Unity Theatre, Liverpool, 7-8 Feb

The latest from ensemble theatre company Penny Dreadful, known for their works exploring the hidden, quirky and ‘famously forgotten’ characters and dilemmas of modern human history, How To Be Immortal is a new touring play – directed by Kirsty Housley and with research assistance from UCL’s Division of Medicine and the University of Manchester – that delves into both the scientific and the macabre, exploring the discoveries of DNA and genetics, and the human process of dealing with grief, loss and our connections to the dead.

Just as the double helix of DNA winds around itself, the play's three separate narratives twist together and cross over. First, there’s Henrietta Lacks – dead in 1951, but alive in laboratories throughout the world as her cells multiply and divide – inspiring scientific breakthrough but leaving behind a daughter, Deborah, whose battle to come to terms with her mother’s death has now become a battle to come to terms with her immortality. Back still further in time, to 1950, and we find Dr George Gey and his wife Margaret, two scientists on the verge of the discovery of their careers – and their lives. It’s all pretty low-tech, what with the home-made apparatus, customised cement mixer and pureed calf livers… but all it takes is one stroke of luck and the right biopsy, and the Gey’s will have made one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of their time – the secret of immortality.

Finally, there’s the classic doomed love story. Wandering squeezebox-playing decorator Mick and cellist Rose are deeply in love. While they and their instruments are an odd match, together they make something amazing. Only thing is – she’s pregnant, and he’s dying. As Rose is left alone with her child, she uses music to try to understand and accept her loss – sometimes the things people leave behind aren’t as tangible as their cells or DNA.

Through (mostly) true stories bound together by love, death and biology, this play touches on some pretty deep themes, but is infused with comedy, animation and live music, dodgy 50s science experiments, and a song composed – somehow – from human DNA coding. It’s a love story, a tribute to scientific discovery and an original perspective on our links to the dead and what they mean to us. [Conori Bell-Bhuiyan]