In the Lawler

Education Productions

Education & Families presents an annual production in the Lawler, which from 2015 has also toured to regional Victoria and Tasmania. Recent productions include The Violent Outburst That Drew Me to You by Finegan Kruckemeyer, Hungry Ghosts by Jean Tong, Melbourne Talam by Rashma N. Kalsie, and Peddling by Harry Melling. The Lawler is a studio space with a capacity of 163. As there is no proscenium, the audience feels very close to the performers on stage.

Deadly Creatives

In partnership with the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, Deadly Creatives offers young First Peoples from around the country an opportunity to learn more about the creative industries and give voice to their own stories and ideas. Participants explore potential career pathways and develop their creative skills through practical workshops and experiences led by First Nations artists. The program culminates in a performance of a self-devised, vibrant new work created by the young artists themselves in the Lawler.

Cybec Electric play reading series

Our annual Cybec Electric play reading series celebrates theatre in its essence: great stories, electric writing and brilliant acting all working to ignite the audience’s imagination. With scripts in hand, professional actors present new works-in-progress with the assistance of directors and dramaturgs.

Established to create opportunities for playwrights to increase their skills and experience, the stories developed through Cybec Electric reflect the here and the now. The series is a rare opportunity for audiences to be part of the important development stage of new Australian plays. A number of the plays featured in Cybec Electric have gone on to receive full scale productions at Melbourne Theatre Company and theatre companies nationwide. 

Studio Productions

Melbourne Theatre Company has often presented a studio production as part of an annual season, most recently Working With Children by Nicola Gunn, and Lilith: The Jungle Girl by Sisters Grimm.

NEON Festival of Independent Theatre

For three years from 2013 to 2015, the NEON Festival of Independent Theatre ran in the Lawler. Participating independent theatre companies were given complete creative freedom of their work, with the assistance of Melbourne Theatre Company and the venue. Artists and companies included The Rabble, Little Ones Theatre, Rawcus, Nicola Gunn, Arthur, Sisters Grimm, The Hayloft Project, Fraught Outfit and more.

Venue for Hire

The Lawler is also available to hire. The modular seating can be moved to create multiple configurations, depending on the design of a hirer’s production or event, and the split grid allows for flexible lighting. As well as theatrical productions, the Lawler can be used for conferences, meetings, rehearsals, auditions and functions or dinners. The Lawler is an ideal performance space for small or independent productions and offers substantial technical equipment and facilities as standard.