We sat down with Till and Garrick to discuss their new show Mushroomification: Legs, Legs, Legs. The story follows the unlikely collision between a man and a mushroom. Co-written by these two grads, catch the show during Edinburgh Fringe the first week
This show walks a deliciously strange line between love story and body horror—did you start with mushrooms or madness?
We know how bizarre this going to sound but we were initially very interested in the idea of a mushroom having a body. Or desiring one. An idea that came from a late-night YouTube deep dive into the surprisingly charged and romantic world of mushrooms and robotics.
It all spiralled and became clearer from there. We left the robotics behind and picked up a few new characters and ideas! So, it started with mushrooms, but the madness came soon after.
Your characters both push back against controlling systems—the hive mind, conformity, ego. Did any part of this feel weirdly personal while creating or performing it?
Suppose after mushrooms and madness, naturally comes the politics. It couldn’t not be informed by the world that we’ve both come from, the world that we’re collectively in and, pressingly, the world that we’re heading towards. And right now, that feels so inherently and inextricably personal.
We also wanted to look toward understanding otherness in the world through our writing. Something we’ve personally and collectively felt and struggled with. We wanted to make the kind of theatre that we’ve been hoping to find. A show that brings us together in addressing all the ways that the world tells us we don’t belong. And we wanted to make it inviting, friendly, and funny.
The title Legs, Legs, Legs is gloriously unhinged—without spoiling too much, what do legs mean in the world of Mushroomification?
Have to agree it’s one of the stranger things that we’ve thought up. Once we’d written the play the title actually felt very organic. When we meet the character of the Mushroom they’re tethered to the ground by their stem. And as the Mushroom watches the world pass it by it starts seeing creatures (for better and worse – mostly worse) with the ability to move through the world on their legs. The Mushroom wanting to be an individual begins to equate the notion of individualism with that of having legs! And so the Mushroom becomes leg obsessed! Two legs, four legs, eight legs! The Mushroom wants as many as they can get! And the pursuit of legs is exactly the thing that ends up walking the Mushroom down a dangerous and unwieldy path!
So, I’d say that to the Mushroom legs mean freedom, self-expression, equality, agency, and individuality. The question that remains is just as to whether or not the Mushroom has it right!
If your character had a Tinder bio, what would it say?
Ditched the mycelium. Looking for OURcelium.
Mushrooms are having a bit of a cultural moment—from mycelial networks to psychedelic awakenings. What drew you to fungi as a metaphor, and how weird did things get in rehearsal?
For sure, I recon if there’s one thing the team at Heads on Crooked all collectively really love, it’s mushrooms. One of our very first production meetings was held over (and overshadowed by) an incredible mushroom risotto. And I think we all have different perspectives on what we love about them. Hard to ignore how delicious they are when fried up in a bit of butter, but also the health benefits, the way they can enhance your mind, and the surprisingly complex and beautiful systems of life that they operate within are all things that have inspired us one way or another.
I think that in this instance we were really interested in the metaphor of the hive mind as it translates itself into the systems within which we live. Especially when those systems don’t serve the people who make them function. When a Mushroom wants to reproduce, the mycelium sends flowers up above the ground to spread spores. And often the way those spores spread is through animals (or humans) eating those flowers. With the story of our play in mind we were interested in the perspective of that flower. Sent to die for the greater good. A greater good that asks the flower to sacrifice everything and gain nothing. And that’s something that we really found to be so rich with metaphorical and storytelling potential.
In terms of the rehearsal room, it has without a doubt been one of the more memorable production processes. We’ve been waving around in shroom posture, finding the shroom voice, activating our inner fungal network, doing our best fungi dance, and learning to empathise with the black mould in the corner of the stairwell. It has been an absolute joy to bring this idea to life and we’re just so excited to share that joy with other mushroom lovers come August!
Show Snippet
Mushroomification: legs, Legs, Legs follows the unlikely (and explosive) collision between a man and a mushroom. On one side, there is a mushroom, deep within the forest raging against the oppressive mycelial hive mind that it has been born to serve. Desperate to create a body of its own so that it might escape. On the other, a scientist by the name of Karies is working in secret on developing a human hive-mind with the hopes of saving the world, which in Karies’ mind, means making everyone more like him.
Running from July 31st to August 5th, use this link to book tickets!
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/mushroomification-legs-legs-legs