La Mama Theatre - Givemas Day Six

For more than fifty years, La Mama Theatre has been the beating heart of Melbourne’s independent theatre scene.

As well as hosting performances and boasting impressive alumni such as Cate Blanchett and Judith Lucy, La Mama gives budding new creatives the opportunity to kickstart their careers, keeping the theatre’s performance line-up artist-focused.

They provide a welcoming, comfortable space for artists of all backgrounds to explore their ideas and gain experience in theatre performances. 

This means the artistic work that La Mama hosts is often unique and risk-taking. From the annual Explorations season, to Fringe festivals, play readings, fresh plays, and new and returning artists creating brilliant performances each year — La Mama always has something exciting up their sleeve. 

But like nearly everything in Australia this year, La Mama was forced to lower the curtain and turn to online platforms to continue their performances. 

“We have managed reasonably well to keep the idea of La Mama alive,” Liz Jones, La Mama’s artistic director and CEO says.

“Jobkeeper and Zoom have been vital here. They have enabled us to keep all staff on…even those not eligible for Jobkeeper.” Jobkeeper, as most would know, has been a fickle friend of Australian independent organisations and businesses.

“And we have discovered that Zoom and iPhones can be used for the creation of art as well as basic communication!”

In adjusting to the ‘new normal’, La Mama have translated most of their performances for an online setting. The most successful of these online performances have been the La Mama for Kids program.

“We have only had online performances in the La Mama for Kids arena, and they have been so successful we are going to keep them going for the moment,” Liz explains.

La Mama for Kids has kept Australian children entertained during lockdown by providing weekly workshops on stop-motion animation — that resulted in a collective short film — and performances from local Melbourne artists such as Jennifer Monk and PO PO MO CO. 

“The only exceptions to this,” Liz continues, “have been La Mama Poetica and our Chekhov’s Seagull project with La Trobe University, achieved with a country-wide Zoom performance which was inspiring.”

La Mama Poetica is only one of La Mama’s online series during isolation — with others like La Mama Cinematica and La Mama Musica, the theatre’s film showcase and live music showcase respectively, also continuing with performances and showings online. 

Current season of Iranian Bauhus, opening on the 9th of December at La Mama

Liz Jones

Despite the trickiness of online performances, several shows managed to shine during lockdown. In November, La Mama hosted La Mama North Fringe 2020, which featured performances such as audio tales, Zoom calls and live broadcasts.

Also, productions such as Ladies of the Bay (created by Jennifer Monk, with Girls Act Good) had to jump around a bit, figuring out how to perform their work -- from a live broadcast of the show, to finally a five-episode podcast.

Such exciting projects took months to prepare for and part of the decision to showcase these performances was to make sure the work was appropriate for online viewing and “in no way just videoed live performance,” says Liz.

With artists unable to work with the physical space, as they usually would, we asked Liz if she’d felt a change in the way performances have been created.

Isolation has affected many artists, in a range of ways — some have found inspiration, while some have had to deal with difficult creative blocks, all while navigating lockdown rules, isolation, and more. 

“With the exception of the above mentioned online performances, sadly most artists have had to contend with a fairly quiet isolated lockdown,” Liz admits.

“PO PO MO CO became famous for their front garden performances, and some groups rehearsed online but for most it has been a difficult and lonely time.”

On top of isolation in 2020, La Mama has also been fighting against federal funding cuts, and rebuilding their iconic theatre on Faraday St after a fire destroyed it in 2018.

La Mama has been no stranger to the spotlight, but the team nevertheless continues, with overwhelming support from the community and there’s hope on the horizon for the future of La Mama. 

2020’s events and performances will go ahead in 2021, and the theatre itself will have a fresh look. While the future of Australia’s performing arts is still undetermined, La Mama is emerging from a dark period stronger than ever. 

Throughout 2020, COVID-19 has shown that the arts community is extremely resilient and is always looking out for one another.

La Mama has persevered and continued to be a much-loved, valuable and significant part of the Australian arts community. 

With restrictions easing in Melbourne, a return to that hush as the lights dim that we’ve missed so much, might be sooner than we think. Liz, too, is enthusiastic about the new year: “The prospect of a full house is very exciting [and] the rebuilt original La Mama opening in October 2021 is quite thrilling.”

So how can you support La Mama Theatre going forward?

“Don’t hang back. Come to us in droves!”

Check out what’s on by La Mama, and support their wonderful theatre!

This interview was part of our 12 Days of Givemas – our Christmas series that focuses on small businesses, charities and changemakers doing amazing work this festive season.

WORDS: BIANCA BREEN AND JEANNE CARLOS
PHOTOGRAPHY LA MAMA THEATRE