A Mind-Expanding Journey into the Hidden World Beneath Our Feet
What can we learn from fungi? How might we work with them to adapt to the radical change of our times?
What secrets lie beneath our feet?
This November and December, audiences across Australia will have the rare opportunity to experience Merlin Sheldrake, celebrated biologist and bestselling author of Entangled Life, in a groundbreaking live show that will bring to life the very secret and immensely fascinating world of fungi – one of the oldest, most delicate, yet resilient species on the planet.
Sunday, 30 November 2025 Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
Tuesday, 2 December 2025 Regal Theatre, Perth
Friday, 5 December 2025 Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne
Saturday, 6 December 2025 Town Hall, Adelaide
Tuesday, 9 December 2025 City Recital Hall, Sydney
Tickets on presale from Tuesday 1 July and general on sale from Thursday 3 July via fane.com.au.
“Thinking about fungi makes the world look different. These remarkable organisms have shaped life on Earth for over a billion years and continue to do so. There are so many ways that fungi can help us as we move forwards on this changing planet.” – Merlin Sheldrake
Merlin Sheldrake invites audiences into the extraordinary world of fungi— a very diverse group of organisms that not only sustain life on Earth but also redefine our understanding of intelligence, identity, and ecology. Blending live discussion and audience-led exploration, this unique event features never-before-seen footage and groundbreaking new research, revealing the latest discoveries in the world of fungi. Drawing from his groundbreaking research and his acclaimed book Entangled Life, he will share profound insights into how fungi connect organisms; without fungi, the living world as we know it would not exist.
The live show will feature sequences from Fungi: The Web of Life, the award-winning IMAX documentary narrated by the iconic Björk. Audiences will also be invited to ask Merlin their own questions about this mysterious, living kingdom.
Sheldrake’s mind-bending journey into this hidden world ranges from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that sprawl for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that make all plant life possible, to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.
Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms – and our relationships with them – are changing our understanding of how life works.
“Fungi offer us profound lessons in resilience, cooperation, and transformation,” says Sheldrake. “They show us that life is more networked, more surprising, and more entangled than we often imagine.”
Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and author with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, and ecology. His debut book, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, became an international bestseller and has been translated into over twenty languages. Known for his engaging style and interdisciplinary approach, Sheldrake’s work bridges science, philosophy, and art, inspiring a deeper connection with the natural world.
Part science and part story – this is a one-of-a-kind journey into the living underground.
MERLIN SHELDRAKE: SECRET LIFE OF FUNGI LIVE
Tickets on sale via fane.com.au
Sunday, 30 November 2025 Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
Tuesday, 2 December 2025 Regal Theatre, Perth
Friday, 5 December 2025 Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne
Saturday, 6 December 2025 Town Hall, Adelaide
Tuesday, 9 December 2025 City Recital Hall, Sydney
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Tatiana Marchant | Estellar PR
0410 655 020 | tatiana@estellar.com.au
Images:
https://www.dropbox.com/t/LQI2z3w2Z88XcPre
Videos:
Merlin Sheldrake eats mushrooms sprouting from his book, Entangled Life
Fungi: Web of Life Trailer (IMAX movie, narrated by Björk, presented by Merlin Sheldrake)
Merlin Sheldrake – How Fungi Make our Worlds
Fun Fungal Facts: inspired by Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life:
- Fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants
Despite their plant-like appearance, fungi share a more recent common ancestor with animals than with plants - Mycelium networks can span miles and act like a brain
Underground fungal networks (mycelium) can stretch for kilometers and transmit information, almost like a decentralized brain, helping trees and plants communicate and share resources - Mushrooms are just the fruiting bodies
What we see as mushrooms are only a tiny part of the fungal organism—like apples on a tree. The real body is the vast, hidden mycelium beneath the surface - Fungi can manipulate animal behaviour
Some fungi, like Cordyceps, infect insects and take over their nervous systems, compelling them to climb to high places before killing them and sprouting from their bodies - Fungi helped plants colonize land
Around 500 million years ago, fungi formed symbiotic relationships with early plants, enabling them to absorb nutrients from the soil and colonize land - Lichens are fungal ecosystems
Lichens are not single organisms but complex symbiotic systems involving fungi, algae, and sometimes bacteria—tiny ecosystems in themselves - Fungi can clean up pollution
Certain fungi can break down pollutants like oil, plastics, and even radioactive waste, offering powerful tools for environmental remediation - Yeast helped launch civilization
Yeasts, a type of fungus, are responsible for fermentation—essential for making bread, beer, and wine. This process played a key role in the development of human societies - Fungi challenge our ideas of individuality
Because of their interconnected nature and ability to merge and split, fungi blur the lines between individual and collective life forms - Fungi can alter consciousness
Psilocybin mushrooms, used in both traditional rituals and modern therapy, can profoundly affect human perception and are being studied for their potential to treat depression and PTSD
ABOUT MERLIN SHELDRAKE:
Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist, writer, and speaker with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He is a research associate of Oxford University and the Vrije University Amsterdam, the UK Policy Lead at the Fungi Foundation, Director of Impact at the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), and the 2025 Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU.
His book, Entangled Life, is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, won the Royal Society Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize, and was nominated for a number of other prizes, including the British Book Awards and the Rathbones Folio Prize. It has been translated into thirty-two languages and sold more than a million copies worldwide. Merlin is the presenter of Fungi: Web of Life, a giant screen documentary narrated by Björk.
Merlin’s research ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion.
ABOUT FANE:
Fane is a leading curator of live spoken-word events, presenting the most compelling voices in global culture, literature, and entertainment. Their tours create intimate, electric conversations with artists, thinkers, and icons at the top of their fields. Recent tours include Dolly Alderton, Henry Winkler, Fran Lebowitz, Kevin McCloud, Nigella Lawson, and Tim Minchin. fane.com.au
