La Mama is one of the most important venues in the history of Australian theatre, a 40-seat space on Faraday Street that gave the first stage to the new wave of Australian playwrights in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The original Carlton printer's shed it occupied was destroyed by fire in 2018, but the theatre rebuilt on the same site and reopened in 2021, keeping the same tight, low-budget, writer-focused programming.
A second, larger space — the La Mama Courthouse a few blocks away on Drummond Street — runs longer-form productions in parallel. The programme leans new work, often with the writer or director introducing the play before curtain. Tickets are cheap by mainstream theatre standards.