Rubie, Nina Scott and Polly Rowley-Sams as The Musical Spores / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Nina (they/them) is a political theatre maker, musician, performer and educator based in Glasgow. Their work is celebratory, immersive and collaborative, exploring different creative tools for social change.
Nina is Director, Co-Writer & ensemble performer of Be More Mushroom, a raucous, educational musical for kids and grown ups exploring what fungi can teach us about identity, power and society. Be More Mushroom was developed as part of a residency at St. Margaret's House with Dan de la Motte and a group of queer performers, musicians and mycologists. It was recently performed at Queer Nature: After Hours at Kew Gardens and will be developed further in 2024. Alongside the show is multiple workshops for all ages creatively engaging with Queer Theory and Fungi.
Nina has been interviewed about Be More Mushroom for Mushroom People 2 (Fall 2024). You can buy this gorgeous magazine for mycophiles here.
Nina is an experienced educator and facilitator. They currently lecture on the BA Theatre for Social Change course at Rose Bruford Drama School, teaching Creative Campaigning and Producing in Practice. Nina regularly works in Catalonia with ULEX, co-designing and delivering courses for activists across Europe including: 'Theatre of the Oppressed' (Nov 2023) 'Integral Activist Training' (Oct 2024, 2023 & 2022) and 'Creative Tools for Social Change' (April 2022).
Alongside Emer Mary Morris, Nina was Artistic Director of You Should see the Other Guy Theatre (2014-2022), a London based grassroots collective made up of queer and women artists which worked on and off stage to tackle housing injustice. Nina has Co-produced, written and directed YSSTOG's Land of the Three Towers (Camden People's Theatre 2015-2019), a series of verbatim musicals which were performed on London housing estates. The plays share different methods of resisting gentrification and regeneration. The script of Land of the Three Towers: Vol I has been published in Radical Housing: Art Struggle and Care (ed, Ana Valencia, 2021) which can be downloaded and ordered here.
Nina's baby (pun intended) is Womb with a View (WINNER Best Festival Venue, Independent Association of Festivals Award, 2017, WINNER Shambala micro-venues competition 2016), an immersive venue which gives birth to new ideas and an interactive performance which gives birth to YOU. The womb sets out to queer narratives of wombs, childbirth and parenthood. In 2021 Nina received Developing Your Creative Practice Funding to develop Womb with a View, exploring queering trans healthcare and telling the story of birth through cabaret, song and silliness.
Nina has designed celebrated costumes for award winning companies including Kill the Beast's He Had Hairy Hands (WINNER Peter Brook Festival Award, WINNER Manchester Theatre Awards, BBC Top Pick of the Fringe) and The Boy Who Kicked Pigs.
A core part of Nina's practice is singing and song-making and they are a long standing member of queer choral collective F*Choir. They sing and play bass in Rubie.
Milla Harding as Mum and Amiot Hills as Kid / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Polly Rowley-Sams as Spore / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Dan de la Motte as Chanterelle / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Milla Harding as Stinky Squid / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Rubie, Nina Scott and Polly Rowley-Sams as The Musical Spores / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Dan de la Motte as Cordycep and Amiot Hils as Kid / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Dan de la Motte as The Judge / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Nina Scott as Spore and Polly Rowley-Sams as Spore / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Milla Harding as Bleeding Tooth Fungus / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
Milla Harding, Dan de la Motte and Amiot Hills as The Buttons / Photo by Tegid Cartwright
BE MORE MUSHROOM (NOV 2022-MARCH 2023)
Be More Mushroom is a raucous, educational musical for kids and grown ups about what fungi can teach us about ourselves and the world around us.
Directed and Produced by Nina Scott and written by Nina Scott and Dan de la Motte.
Funded by Arts Council England
Kid does not 'fit in’ to Mum's pristine garden. Where everything has its place. Where there’s no room for anything 'peculiar'. Like Kid. And like the giant yellow Chanterelle mushroom that appears one afternoon behind the washing line emitting bubbles, disco lights and... is that... a compilation of queer pop hits remixed to a satisfying techno beat?
When Mum goes on a mission of mushroom destruction Kid must befriend the musical spores, ride the mycelial network under the garden and visit 'Chanterelle’s’: a place with no Morel's (that's a mushroom joke) where the floors are sticky, the clientele is icky and the top class cabaret performances leave Kid with more questions than answers.
You are invited to, Be More Mushroom, a raucous, musical extravaganza for kids and grown ups that will immerse you in the fungal queerdom - a world that's all around you, you just don't know it yet!
Be More Mushroom was conceived by Nina Scott and created in collaboration with Dan de la Motte and a group of queer mycologists, performers, artists and musicians. This was made possible by funding from Arts Council England and support from St. Margaret's House as part of their Artist in Residence Programme.
The Team:
Conceived, Produced and Directed by: Nina Scott
Written by: Nina Scott and Dan de la Motte
Performers: Milla Harding, Amiot Hills and Dan de la Motte
Musical Spores: Polly Rowley-Sams, Rubie, Nina Scott
Assistant Producer and Assistant Director: Dan de la Motte
Set and Costume Designer: Emily Rees-Haynes
Clowning Support: Ella the Great
Lighting Design: Matt Mead
Social Media Support: Vida Adamczewski
Illustrator: Katie Gulson
Dramaturgy Support: Sam Bainbridge
Photos: Tegid Cartwright
Song List:
Spores Like Us: Lyrics and Music by Polly Rowley-Sams
That’s just the way it is: Lyrics by Nina Scott and Dan de la Motte, Music by Nina Scott and Rubie
Meet the Mycelium: Lyrics and Music by Polly Rowley-Sams and Rubie
Welcome to Chanterelle's: Lyrics and Music by Nina Scott
The Sound of You: Music by Nina Scott, Rubie and Polly Rowley-Sams
Birth of the Earth: Music by Rubie and Polly Rowley-Sams
Truffle Song: Lyrics by Dan de la Motte, Music by Rubie
Zombie Ant Blues: Music by Rubie
Split Gill Song: Lyrics by Nina Scott, Music by Rubie
I am not an I: Lyrics and Music by Nina Scott
What does it mean to be more mushroom?: Lyrics and Music by the ensemble (with additional lyrics by Polly Rowley-Sams)