La Mama presents an exciting spring season line-up

La Mama has unveiled its spring season of captivating performances, which promises to showcase “the absolute worst and the absolute best of humanity”, over three months.

Starting October 4, the popular theatre company will present something for everyone with launches of three Melbourne Fringe shows including Travis Cotton’s Starfish the [redacted] about the political power of art.

There’s also Robert Reid who brings two thrillers: Stephen Sewell’s Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and contemporary America, marking the play’s 20th anniversary.

The other by Reid is Moosh the Hobo Cat, who is a victim to the callousness of capitalism but finds the pathway to hope, while Slightly Cracked portrays women surviving the mental health “industry”.

Shows based on real people include MI:WI 3027, the story of Roland Carter, the first Ngarrindjeri man to join the Australian Imperial Forces during World War I, while I Shall Go Out Across the Snow Covered Field is based on Lina Prokofiev’s extraordinary life.

Among the season’s eclectic mix is Prisoner at the World’s End about three volunteers at HM Prison Belmarsh, London, arguing about Julian Assange being in a high-security unit.

Wawan Sofwan’s Surat-Suratnya dramatises Helen Soemardjo’s letters from the 1960s outlining the history of political prisoners and exiles from Indonesia.

For something lighter, The Talk brings mother-son duo Amber and River Hart together in a hilarious “birds and the bees” chat.

Duré Dara’s Percussion, Conversation, Degustation celebrates live art and its “ephemerality in several improvised performances with Speak Percussion”.
La Mama’s Liz Jones, who programmed the list, said, “This season is dazzling in its diversity: stylistically, politically, linguistically, and culturally. Serious, humorous, past, present, and future issues all examined with intensity and integrity.”

Currently showing is Celebrity (pictured), the final winter show, which runs until October 1. •

lamama.com.au