THE MOULD THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
charades theatre company
Director/Bookwriter: Thomas Henderson
Composer: Robin Hiley
Musical Director: Neil Metcalf
Movement Director: Shiela Grant
Costume Design: Molly MacDonald-Findlayson
Lighting Design: Matthew Craigen
Sound Design: Paul Smith
Animation Design: Kate Charter
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Alexander Fleming - Jeremy Rose
Rose - Emily Bull
Merlin Pryce - Richard Lounds
Howard Florey - Sam Keeler
Ernst Chain - Scott Armstrong
Doctor - Melissa Veszi
Gram Positive - Beverley Grant
Gram Negative - Callum Donald
Mr X - Graham Richardson
Mrs X - Sarah Haddath
Lead Ensemble - James Ross
This production originated as a commission to educate children in Antimicrobial Resistance and the dangers of overusing antibiotics. In time it grew into a larger piece for which Thomas was both Bookwriter and Director. After a sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe it toured to Washington DC and Atlanta, winning a United States Public Health Service Award for its impact.
Below is Thomas’ programme note explaining more about his conception of the story and production.
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What is The Mould That Changed The World ‘about’? While it is about Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin and the subsequent overuse of antibiotics, this is hardly a thrilling hook for a new musical. So the task facing me as Bookwriter was to dig into the question: What is The Mould That Changed The World ‘about’?
The first important question is - what is Resistance? Not necessarily from a scientific standpoint in which bacteria are resisting antibiotic treatments, but from an anthropological standpoint. When one considers the overuse of antibiotics in farming and fishing for example, it comes down to money. When one considers individuals’ relationships to these drugs in terms of overuse, it comes down to the repercussions of being ill; we all have responsibilities, people who rely on us to be healthy and there is the sheer logic of not suffering through a minor infection when we don’t have to. To dive deep: the overuse of antibiotics, whether for financial reasons or health reasons, is about survival. But what of the other side of Resistance? Bacteria themselves are under threat and thus adapting in order to manoeuvre around our cures. The natural world is resisting our overuse. Why? Survival.
At its core, all of this is about humanity’s impact on the natural world. And where have we heard that before?
In this telling of the story of Alexander Fleming’s discovery, we present a scenario in which humanity (represented by Fleming) is directly answerable to the natural world (represented by the character of Rose - a Mother Nature figure). What inevitably comes from that is the vital importance of Balance and respect for a varied and intricately evolved eco-system that cannot withstand the inexorable dominance of any one species. As the emerging ‘mass media’ honour Fleming as a ‘hero’, he faces a fight to hold onto who he is while insisting that - though the world has been changed by his discovery - nothing has been saved.
What is The Mould That Changed The World ‘about’? It seems strange that it took so long to realise that this story - as with any story - is about conflicting relationships: our relationship with the natural world and our relationship with our own mortality. In other words, it is the story of - to quote my own script -‘the most natural thing on earth’: Survival.
