La Mama Theatre (Melbourne) facts for kids
 |
|
| Address | 205 Faraday St, Carlton, Victoria Australia |
|---|---|
| Opened | 1967 |
La Mama Theatre is a special place in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. It's a theatre that started in 1967. La Mama helps all kinds of artists create and show their plays. It is a not-for-profit organization, meaning it focuses on its mission rather than making money.
Contents
The Story of La Mama Theatre
La Mama Theatre was started by a person named Betty Burstall. She got the idea from small, exciting theatres in New York City. Betty and her husband, Tim Burstall, had just visited New York. They wanted to bring that same energy to Australia. La Mama was named after a similar theatre in New York.
Betty Burstall explained her idea:
"I got the idea for La Mama when we went to New York in the sixties. We were poor. It was impossible to go to the theatre – even to see a film was expensive – but there were these places where you paid fifty cents for a cup of coffee and you saw a performance, and if you felt like it you put some money in a hat for the actors. I saw some awful stuff and some good stuff. It was very immediate and exciting and when I came back to Melbourne I wanted to keep going, but there didn't exist such a place. So I talked around a bit, to a few actors and writers and directors, sounding them out about doing their own stuff, Australian stuff, for nothing ... I decided on Carlton because in 1967 it was a lively, tatty area with an Italian atmosphere and plenty of students ..." (Betty Burstall)
Supporting New Australian Plays
Back then, it was rare to see Australian plays. It was also risky for theatres to put them on. La Mama changed this by being a not-for-profit theatre. It gave a place for new, experimental Australian plays to be performed.
The very first play at La Mama was Three Old Friends (1967). It was written by a new Australian writer named Jack Hibberd. His most famous play, Dimboola, also opened there in 1969. Soon, showing Australian works became a regular thing at La Mama. In its first two years, 25 new Australian plays were performed there for the first time.
Nurturing Creative Talent
La Mama also supported new works by musicians, poets, and filmmakers. This new theatre became a home for many important people in theatre and film. These included Jack Hibberd and Alex Buzo. An underground performance group called Tribe also used the theatre often.
The theatre's own group, the La Mama Group, was started by actor-director Graeme Blundell. This group later became the Australian Performing Group. Many famous Australian artists have been part of La Mama. These include David Williamson, Cate Blanchett, Jack Hibberd, Graeme Blundell, Judith Lucy, and Julia Zemiro.
In recent years, artists from La Mama have gone on to create theatre and films all over the world.
How La Mama Supports Artists Today
La Mama has a special way of helping artists. It gives them money upfront to put on their shows. Artists don't have to pay rent for the theatre space. They also get to keep 80% of the money from ticket sales. This means artists can take creative risks without worrying too much about money.
La Mama also provides rehearsal spaces, meeting rooms, and help with marketing and ticketing. This makes it easier for artists who might not have a lot of money or resources.
La Mama's Theatre Buildings
La Mama uses two different buildings for its shows. One is the original La Mama Theatre on Faraday Street. The other is the La Mama Courthouse, which is a block away on Drummond Street.
The Original La Mama Theatre
The original La Mama Theatre is a simple two-story brick building. It was built in 1883 as a printing shop. After being used for different industrial jobs, it was rented in 1967. It became a small theatre to help new Australian plays.
On May 19, 2018, a fire badly damaged La Mama. But it was rebuilt and reopened on December 9, 2021. The theatre space is the same size as before. It still has its original features, like the internal staircase, a trapdoor, and a fireplace.
The La Mama Courthouse
The La Mama Courthouse used to be the Carlton Courthouse. It was built in 1887. La Mama has managed this building since the mid-1990s. It can hold about 75 people for performances.
