Oh Mama

“We have a strong history of supporting new Australian work, particularly Australian writers and theatre makers,” explains Caitlin Dullard, Company Manager of La Mama. Their business model is particularly unique, in that they take care of marketing, ticketing and administration for a lot of the performances. “We operate on the philosophy that you could come in and make a piece of theatre without needing anything but passion and idea.”

La Mama and Melbourne Fringe Festival have been working together for years and are a match made in independent theatre heaven. “We’re very like-minded in that we operate on the fringes and support new, experimental work,” explains Dullard. “Liz (Jones, Artistic Director) does all the programming. She tries to find shows that fit the bill in terms of bitey, exciting work that is in line with the Fringe to make sure we’re connected.”

As part of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, La Mama will host eight Fringe shows. “Every show is just so different from one another, and we’re operating from the Courthouse and La Mama with three shows a day. You could see three very different shows in one day at one venue, then go the next day to the other venue and see another three very different shows. I think that’s what makes us special,” says Dullard.

Almost Face To Face is a one-man show featuring Steven House and looks at Dublin art sub-culture. Conversely, Motherfucker has a large ensemble cast based on the story of Oedipus, “Using a historic story and playing with it to make it work in a new Australian context,” explains Dullard.

Deadset has had a lot of chins wagging for this year’s Fringe. “Some are saying it’s the pick of the Fringe,” says Dullard. Ian Pidd and Sue Giles first wrote and performed Deadset over 20 years ago at La Mama.

April Underhill and Frank’s Survival Guide To Freedom are both part of the Fringe Festival’s Kids program, and are already drawing in a (much) younger crowd. “Ticket sales for both have gone particularly well. We’re excited to be bringing in young people into the Fringe,” says Dullard.

Dullard is also keen about HorseHead, from The Blue Room Theatre in WA, and Holy Dying, based on Jeremy Taylor’s book, written in 1651, The Rules And Exercises Of Holy Dying.

To round out the program there is autobiographical play White Spots, written and performed by David Maney. “White Spots is a show about my diagnosis with MS, but it’s a playful take on what happens when you’re diagnosed with something like MS, which people can’t see and you have to tell people about,” explains Maney. 

This is not the first time Maney has performed at La Mama. Last year he was part of La Mama’s Exploration series, where performers are able to test out ideas on audiences while their work is in development. Things will be a little different this time around, as Maney explains: “I’m setting the stage up more like a hospital room, so there’s a white medical curtain, with more of a cabaret lighting design – lots of spotlights.”

Maney sees many benefits to performing his Fringe show at La Mama. “Because it’s such a well known institution, people are drawn to the venue rather than you having to go out and find your own audience,” Maney explains. “The people drawn to La Mama are already pretty open-minded and looking to try new things.” Dullard echoes this sentiment, “Our audiences are always fantastic for Fringe and they’re always new people, which is really exciting. They come to La Mama and start to understand what we’re about, and hopefully come back again beyond Fringe.”