A Tasmanian artist has revealed how he spent more than a year hunting down the original Chickenfeed ‘Cheepa’ mascot costume from the defunct discount chain to build a secret, nostalgia-fuelled performance at this year’s Dark Mofo.
Marcus McKenzie, who grew up in Launceston, created a work called ‘The Chicken Room – The Chickenman Cometh’ for the festival’s Night Mass program, turning the beloved Tasmanian variety store into an elaborate underground experience.
Speaking to Pulse, McKenzie said the idea for his performance began when he was asked to do a show on the roof of a building in Hobart’s CBD during last year’s Dark Mofo.
He wanted to write a monologue packed with hyper-local Tasmanian references, and Chickenfeed quickly became central to the concept.
“If you lived in Tasmania roughly through the ’90s [and] early 2000s, there’s no way you don’t know what Chickenfeed is,” he said.
Tracking down the original mascot costume proved far harder than expected.
“It was like trying to find the thylacine,” McKenzie said.
After months of dead ends through Facebook groups and meme pages, it was his mum who connected him to the Jan Cameron Trust, which held one of only two costumes ever made.
The performance was repeated on loop across four nights.
McKenzie would roam the dance floor of a Chickenfeed-themed party, quiz people on their Tasmanian credentials and lead small groups down a hidden corridor to a custom-built black box theatre.
Those who could not complete the famous slogan, “Chickenfeed is all you need because a little goes a long, long way”, were slapped with a “certified mainlander” sticker.
Inside, audiences watched a 10-minute solo play that climaxed with an audience plant appearing on stage in the mascot costume, followed by a remix of the theme song.
McKenzie also tracked down the original voiceover artist from the television advertisements and recorded half an hour of new material for the show.
He said the work was not simply a celebration of a Tasmanian icon but an exploration of nostalgia for a simpler, pre-internet era.
“There’s something kind of hauntological about revisiting this relic of, I think, probably a slightly romanticised simpler time,” he said.
McKenzie said the costume has been returned but suggested it deserved a permanent home at a museum.
“It’s a pretty significant cultural artefact,” he said.
McKenzie said he wanted to especially thank Sue Gilbert and The Jan Cameron Trust for their help.
He also thanked performers Talia Graziano, Mads Hillam and Gabrielle Adkins, along with producer Lane Pitcher.
Chickenfeed was founded in 1990 by brothers Rudie and Peter Sypkes, who opened their first store in Glenorchy in Hobart’s northern suburbs.
The chain grew to 29 Tasmanian stores at its peak, with its bright red and yellow branding, catchy jingle and relentless television advertising forcing it deep into the state’s cultural identity.
By 1995, it was reported one in two Tasmanian households were shopping at Chickenfeed at least once a week.
The chain’s demise came when owner Jan Cameron’s company, Retail Adventures, entered administration in 2012 – owing $270 million. Many stores closed with less than a day’s notice, with the last store closing in 2013.
