22/05/2018
Peter Khalil, the Federal Labor Member for Wills, in a speech to Parliament today has thrown his support behind La Mama’s pledge to rebuild, after the iconic performance venue was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Saturday morning.
For over 50 years La Mama has produced cutting edge contemporary theatre, with alumni including Cate Blanchett, Julia Zemiro and David Williamson.
In a speech to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Mr Khalil said “while [La Mama] is just outside my electorate, the scores of the artists and performers who do live in Wills, in my electorate, considered La Mama something of a second home. I spent a fair bit of time there myself while I was studying at Melbourne Uni!”
“Of course, us amateur thespians here […] would understand and appreciate the importance of that space, where they’ve created living art; the passion, the excitement of live theatre.”
“I’ve already started working to try and see if there are organisations that can provide some temporary venues so that they can honour their existing bookings.”
“The show must go on! So we should all here try and support what is so important for the space of theatre and the arts.”