"The Mushroom Cure" at The Marsh SF

As with many shows at The Marsh, Adam Strauss's The Mushroom Cure isn't a play per se, but a one-person monologue in a theatrical setting. It is very much a piece of theater art, however. It is also a very intimate portrayal of a real story of the frustrations of trying to both live with a treat mental illness, told in the first person.

We caught the last preview performance this weekend. The show officially opens this week.

The Show

The name of the show derives from an incident where Strauss discovers online an article describing clinical studies in which psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in "magic mushrooms," showed remarkable effectiveness in treating and even curing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a condition Strauss himself has. So he took it upon himself to try to obtain and use mushrooms to treat himself.

Stepping back a bit, Strauss is a stand-up comedian based in New York City, so he is quite familiar with standing in front of an audience and discussing intimate subjects. Probably the most interesting portions of the show to me were the bits where he externally verbalizes the internal dialogue that someone with OCD has with himself trying to make a decision. It's quite brilliantly done, and provides a degree of insight not usually available to those outside.

The narrative thread of the show pretty much begins with the discovery that there is a "mushroom cure" out there, and proceeds though myriad paths toward trying to acquire mushrooms, starting with a call to his pot dealer, discussions with his therapist, and the meeting of a new girlfriend who seems remarkably well-tuned to his plight. Along the way we get insights into how OCD and its treatments came into Strauss's life, how it impacts so many facets of it, and how he deals with it prior to the discovery of mushrooms. There are detours through cactus, therapy in the park, and choosing the perfect beach house in Martha's Vineyard for a mushroom "trip." Along with those come commentaries on Burning Man, New Jersey, and Times Square, among many others.

Throughout, the well-honed comedy wit and timing come through, but so does a quite sincere desire to share a real story about real suffering. As with many difficult stories in life, there are humorous aspects if you're willing to look at it the right way, and Strauss uses that humor to help keep us with him through a truly twisted path.

Marshifying the Show

The Mushroom Cure originally appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, then made its way back to New York with Strauss where it eventually raun very successfully off-Broadway. The Marsh represents the West Coast premiere of the show, and the level of polish really shows. Strauss has a degree of comfort and fluidity in his presentation that was so clearly lacking in the last show I saw at the Marsh (Tom Ammiano's solo show, Mincing Words). Needless to say, this is a much better, more satisfying show than that.

I should add that it's not strictly speaking just a monologue. I mean, Strauss is the only performer, but he's definitely set the narrative in a dramatic form. There are scenes and scene changes. Sometimes he represents multiple characters, and so on. He really demonstrates some versatility in the performance.

Perhaps best of all, Strauss doesn't try to tie it all up in a neat package. He neither proclaims himself miraculously cured nor condemns himself to a life of unremitting torment. This isn't Hollywood; there isn't a neat ending. It's real life, and what we see is what we get. Strauss is obviously a very functional human at this point who freely admits that he has ongoing challenges from his OCD, but also shows and explains many of the ways he has gotten better.

Reality Impacting

For those who know someone (or several someones) with OCD and related conditions, the show is really helpful, providing a view into the inner workings of the process that would normally be completely opaque. There are times when the person with OCD looks completely immobile and rather withdrawn, but inside the mind is whirling between and among choices and decisions. The frustration is palpable, but it's amazingly insightful stuff.

And at the risk of a small "spoiler," I'll just say that whatever else comes out of  the pursuit of The Mushroom Cure, it's abundantly clear that there is no miracle here. Whatever else happens, there is still a lot of ongoing work for the person with OCD. Getting the process and the treatment out into the open is helpful both for those with OCD and for those who know them,  work with them, and live with them.

It's a powerful show, and well worth the time to see it. The official opening night is May 10, and the scheduled run is through June 3. It's well worth a run out to the Mission to see it.