PENNY Dreadful Theatre’s new show, How To Be Immortal, explores a great moment in scientific discovery: the eternal human cancer cells.

Visiting the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, for one night only on Saturday, Mira Dovreni’s study of love, death and science weaves together two stories from different centuries.

One is the true story of Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cancer cells in the 1950s; the other involves a young couple in the present that derive hope from her. A third story explores one of the most extraordinary advances in science: the mapping of DNA.Blending science and human emotion, Dovreni’s play was created in collaboration with scientists from UCL and the University of Manchester and features original musicby sound designer Barnaby Race based on a sound code that interprets DNA.

In How To Be Immortal, Rosa has fallen in love with Mick the decorator. She plays the cello, he plays the squeezebox – an unlikely combination but they sound great together.

Trouble is, she’s pregnant and he’s about to die.Henrietta Lacks died in West Virginia in 1951 but her cells are still alive, dividing endlessly in laboratories all over the world.

It has taken Deborah years to come to termswith her mother’s death. Now she must deal with her immortality.

“If we didn’t have bodies, would we live forever?” ponders writer Dovreni. “It’s 1950 and Doctor George Gey and his wife Margaret are about to make a mind-bending discovery using homemade apparatus and calf liver puree.”

Mira Dovreni, one of Penny Dreadful Theatre’s founders, makes her debut as a playwright after performing in such plays as The Bitches Ball and The Missionary’s Position. Her premiere is directed by Kirsty Housley. Penny Dreadful Theatre specialises in exploring forgotten figures from history, telling complex stories always stranger than fiction.

Tickets for Saturday’s 7.30pm performance are on sale on 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com