Once in a while you come across a project built on pure passion. In the early days of such a project the cracks show, the strings are evident, there’s no gloss, little glamour, but there’s something which grabs you because if they cared enough to stick this all together again and again, it must be something special. MKA, a theatre dedicated to new writing, certainly is.
If you visit the current MKA theatre at Prahran mission you’ll find yourself waiting to enter the theatre in the building’s courtyard. A small table has been set up to offer tickets and drinks. There’s that can of Passiona from your youth. And the team is brimming with anticipation.
Heading into the theatre there’s an imposing rise of tiered seating assembled in what I’m sure father called two’b’four. By the time the curtains open, it’s packed with punters (and seems to hold together quite nicely).
On the stage, it’s another story. This is theatre delivered with skill. It’s tightly written, well directed, and worthy of a far more sophisticated theatre. It’s a privilege to see it in these intimate surrounds.
Artistic Director Tobias Manderson-Galvin helped build the seating, “Mainly Glyn Roberts and myself. This is the third theatre we've built in under a year and maybe one day we'll get the hang of it,” he says. MKA is looking for a new home for the October season, so no doubt he’ll have some more practice soon.
He’s learned more than carpentry skills though. He says the major learning is “that there is a wealth of playwriting and theatre making talent right at our fingertips, brimming with insightful stories that are burning to be told and that with your support these voices and this form can flourish.”
MKA has brought together an audience of people who are familiar with theatre and those who have never been. Manderson-Galvin finds the response rewarding. “When people who don’t come to the theatre normally come along and say things like 'I didn’t know theatre could do that', that's fantastic and it's also great when people who do normally come to the theatre come along and say things like 'you can't do that!'”
The theatre’s current work is The Horror Face. Manderson-Galvin says, “If you've ever had to go in to work to have motivational speakers pep-talk your office with inanities; if you've ever wondered what a man made of all the DNA in the world and a lion would look like; if sock puppets fill you with a mixture of fear and repulsion. If you want to smile. Then this is for you.”