Mushroom Language: A Fungal Gothic

They eat nappies
They eat toothbrushes
They eat bombs
They eat newspapers about how the world will end…
a species running slowly in parallel preaching change silently
digesting muck into matter and back again.

MUSHROOM LANGUAGE: A FUNGAL GOTHIC is about the cycles that shape us – eruption, reproduction and decay. It’s about role-playing the lichen love stories, spore shoot-outs and truffle siren songs found in our forests.

In an eerie and funny homage to folk horror, two human performers absorb and mimic ‘mushroom language’ through ritual and power dynamics. Who are these creatures, and what are the mushrooms trying to tell them? Dreamlike conversations and movement sequences are underpinned by original music from composer Hannah Miller (of the Moulettes) and playful design by Rūta Irbīte.

Mushrooms offer us a lens into a more sustainable future, but nature is hilarious and terrifying.

Credit: Ali Matthews & Company
Text: Ali Matthews
Devised and performed: Ali Matthews & Tom Halls
Design/Visual Dramaturgy: Rūta Irbīte
Sound Designer/Composer: Hannah Miller
LX Design/Production Management: Rob Athorn
Dramaturgy: Kate Adams
Photos: Drew Forsyth & Georgiana Ghetiu
Trailer: Grace Simmons

Developed with support from The Lowry and partners including Dartington Trust, Wainsgate Dances, Slung Low, New Adelphi Theatre/University of Salford, Centre for Live Art Yorkshire and the Centre for Folklore, Myth and Magic and the British Mycological Society. R&D design support from Jamie Simmons. Supported with funding from Arts Council England.