The Pram Factory was an Australian alternative theatre venue in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton from around 1970 until 1981. It was home to the Australian Performing Group and Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre group.
The buildings in Drummond Street, Carlton, that housed the Pram Factory consisted of a former factory that made baby carriages (known as "prams", an abbreviation of "perambulator"), [1] called Paramaount, and stables. A 150-seat theatre was constructed in 1970, as a new home for the Australian Performing Group, which moved from La Mama Theatre. It expanded to a second theatre, with 75 seats, in 1973. [2] [3]
It became the site of a number activities besides stage productions, including protest meetings, and was known for its unconventional performances that were part of the "New Wave" of Australian drama. It nurtured New Left politics, comedy, popular theatre, new Australian writing, puppetry and circus. [2] [3]
Plays premiered at the Pram Factory include Don's Party , [4] the satirical The Hills Family Show (1977), [5] and Pecking Orders by Phillip Motherwell (1976). [6]
Nindethana Theatre, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre company, founded by Jack Charles and Bob Maza, was founded at the Pram Factory in 1971. [7] [8]
The Pram Factory is best known as the home for the Australian Performing Group. [2] Writer Helen Garner was a frequent patron at the Pram Factory before and during the writing of her seminal 1977 novel Monkey Grip , which showcased much of what was then a considerably counter-cultural, bohemian Carlton and inner-city Melbourne. Garner's former husband, Bill Garner, had been a member of the Pram Factory performance group throughout its heyday.[ citation needed ]
The building was demolished in 1981 despite protest from the theatre community and Carlton residents. The Lygon Court shopping centre was built in its place to the designs of architect Ermin Smrekar. [9] [2]
The theatre had a unique and lasting influence on the cultural life of Australia, as a place where Australian talent of many kinds was nurtured, including writers, actors, film directors, theatre directors, artists, musicians, circus performers and arts administrators. Circus Oz grew out of the Pram Factory. [3]
Circus Oz is a contemporary circus company based in Australia, collectively owned by its Membership, founded in 1978. Its shows incorporate theatre, satire, rock 'n' roll and a uniquely Australian humour.
Carlton is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, three kilometres north of the Melbourne central business district within the City of Melbourne local government area. Carlton recorded a population of 16,055 at the 2021 census.
La Mama Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. It has been putting on contemporary theatre since 1967. La Mama produces work by theatre makers of all backgrounds.
Coranderrk was an Aboriginal reserve run by the Victorian government between 1863 and 1924, located around 50 kilometres (31 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The residents were mainly of the Woiwurrung, Bunurong and Taungurung peoples, and the first inhabitants chose the site of the reserve.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.
Barry Dickins is a prolific Australian playwright, author, artist, actor, educator and journalist, probably best known for his historical dramas and his reminiscences about growing up and living in working class Melbourne. His most well-known work is the award-winning stage play Remember Ronald Ryan, a dramatization of the life and death of Ronald Ryan, the last man executed in Australia. He has also written dramas and comedies about other controversial figures such as poet Sylvia Plath, opera singer Joan Sutherland, criminal Squizzy Taylor, actor Frank Thring, playwright Oscar Wilde and artist Brett Whiteley.
The culture of Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, encompasses the city's artistic, culinary, literary, musical, political and social elements. Since its founding as a British settlement in 1835, Melbourne has been culturally influenced by European culture, particularly that of the British Isles. During the 1850s Victorian gold rush and in the decades that immediately followed, immigrants from many other parts of the world, notably China and the Americas, helped shape Melbourne's culture. Over time, Melbourne has become the birthplace of a number of unique cultural traits and institutions, and today it is one of the world's most multicultural cities.
The National Black Theatre (NBT) was a theatre company run by a small group of Aboriginal people based in the Sydney suburb of Redfern which operated from 1972 to 1977. The original concept for the theatre grew out of political struggles, especially the land rights demonstrations, which at the time were being organised by the Black Moratorium Committee. The centre held workshops in modern dancing, tribal dancing, writing for theatre, karate and photography, and provided a venue for new Aboriginal drama. It also ran drama classes under Brian Syron, whose students included Jack Davis, Freddie Reynolds, Maureen Watson, Lillian Crombie, and Hyllus Maris.
Jan Cornall is an Australian singer, comedian and writer. Known for her contributions to queer music through the group Baba Yaga during the 1970s and the hit musical Failing in Love Again (1979), Jan Cornall was a leader in the women's comedy and cabaret resurgence of the early 1980s. She has contributed to Australian community theatre, addressing issues facing regional and rural women, and had a long involvement in forging cross cultural links with Indonesian and Australian writers and artists.
Little Italy in Victoria, Australia, is a Little Italy cultural precinct of the Italian community of Melbourne. It is situated along Lygon Street in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Carlton.
Jack Charles, also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous theatre in Australia, co-founding Nindethana Theatre with Bob Maza in Melbourne in 1971. His film credits include the Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), among others, and more recently appeared in TV series Cleverman (2016) and Preppers (2021).
Brumby Innes is a play by Katharine Susannah Prichard, written in the 1920s but not performed professionally until 1972. A TV film adaptation was broadcast in 1973.
John Timlin is a theatre producer, literary agent and was the administrator of the Australian Performing Group in Melbourne.
The Australian Performing Group (APG) was a Melbourne-based experimental theatre repertory ensemble formed in an official capacity in 1970 from the La Mama theatre group. Created to address a dissatisfaction with Australia's theatrical climate, the APG focused primarily on producing new works by then-emerging Australian writers such as Barry Oakley, Jack Hibberd, Kris Hemensley, Bill Garner, John Romeril, Steve J. Spears and David Williamson.
Ponch Hawkes is an Australian photographer whose work explores intergenerational relationships, queer identity and LGBTQI+ rights, the female body, masculinity, and women at work, capturing key moments in Australia's cultural and social histories.
Laurel Frank is an Australian costume designer who has designed for physical theatre, parades and events.
Nindethana Theatre was Australia's first Aboriginal theatre company, founded in Melbourne in 1971, with its last performance in Adelaide in 1974.
Elizabeth May Jones, best known as Liz Jones, is an Australian theatre director and artistic director of La Mama Theatre in Melbourne.
The New Theatre in Melbourne, formerly Melbourne Workers' Theatre Group, was one of a number of branches of Australia's New Theatre movement established in the 1930s. This was a radical left theatrical movement which staged performances with a political message. The theatre group existed from 1936 until 2000.
SHIFT was a two-act play written in 1975 by Australian playwright Diana King, also known as DQ. It was directed by Alison Richards, a notable figure in feminist theatre at the time, and performed in Melbourne and later Sydney. It is recognised as the first lesbian play written in Australia.
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