“I got the chance to check out their front of house, their production support, their publicity, everything,” she says. “And I’m not going to shit on other companies, but La Mama does it better.”
The La Mama model, with its generous support and box office for artists, will remain uncompromised, and the 2026 program has been revamped into three sections.
Stuck will be performed as part of the newly returned La Mama theatre’s 2026 season. Credit: Darren Gill
La Mama Presents offers eight new works from February to May. It’s a case of Noh news is good news for audiences: first cab off the rank is set to be Maki Morita’s Moongazing, a radical fusion of the digital and the spiritual inspired by a centuries-old tradition of Japanese masked performance.
Other highlights include the final instalment in Glenn Shea’s three-decade-long project An Indigenous Trilogy, the revolutionary satire Saints from Elbow Room, and a feminist black comedy from Megan Twycross, Stuck, to be directed by Susie Dee.
The development season Play runs from June to August. It’s a souped-up rebrand of La Mama Explorations with a renewed focus on testing new work and intensives for mid-career writers.
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And although La Mama will no longer stage shows as part of Midsumma or the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Partnerships emphasises collaborations from September to December, with events such as a bespoke Melbourne Festival of Puppetry, and the sprawling indie behemoth of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
La Mama’s reopening will be a relief for theatregoers, who can expect a welcoming atmosphere (and a free cuppa) at a vital institution, refreshed in its commitment to the future of new Australian work for the stage.
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