Reviewed by Frank McKone
January 16
Credits
Co-Creator, Director – Clare Watson; Co-Creator, Writer – Virginia Gay
Assistant Director/Choreographer – Larissa McGowan
Designer – Jonathan Oxlade; Lighting Designer – Lucy Birkinshaw
Musical Director – Joe Lui; Sound Designer – Luke Smiles
Story Consultant – Ivy Miller
Performers:
Amber McMahon; Elvy-Lee Quici
Benjamin Hancock; Antoine Jelk; Dylan Miller
Annabel Matheson; Aud Mason-Hyde; Calliope Jackson
Derby Athletes – Members of the Sydney Roller Derby League
Sydney Derby Team Leader – Nicole “Ziggy” Eyles
Skate Consultant – Jude ‘Vaderella’ Gaffney
Hero image photography – Claudio Raschella and Bri Hammond
“A single mum, a teenage daughter, and a new life in a regional town where neither quite fits. Billie is 16 and restless, trying to navigate the chaos of adolescence. Mum, meanwhile, is spinning into a rebellion of her own – in the sweaty, rough and radical world of roller derby.”
https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/mama-does-derby
I have to call the form of this surprising show a theatrical cartoon Rock’n’Roll Derby, full of symbolism. What’s surprising is that it succeeds in celebrating women’s overcoming their demons.
When a girl is born resulting from a failed, perhaps abusive relationship, how is her mother to raise her? Mama Does Derby says go out and achieve in your own right, because your daughter needs you to be the model she needs to overcome her fears.
So instead of a gloomy view in response to the issue of family breakdown, the show is a rock’n’roll entertainment which has all the women in the audience, and I suspect some men, whooping and cheering as daughter and mother finally hug and understand each other – and the rock band strikes up for the curtain calls.
There is no curtain, of course, as my photo of the set as the show opens, shows: just the roller derby track, onto which set pieces are rolled on and off by the women rollers scene by scene, of rooms in the house, and a complete rock band.
A
throughline in the plot shows the rather satirical episodes with the
professional – woman – psychological counsellor working on the
assumption that the daughter has mental health problems, and then starts
to think the mother has some too. But Mama's success in winning the
derby competition puts the counsellor in her place as they hug each
other at last.
Of course in cartoon style there’s not much
subtlety in the treatment of their demons, though the daughter has
nightmares which become an amazing glittery figure played by someone who
is, as daughter exclaims, very flexible. A tremendously attractive
looking demon indeed. Unfortunately the cast list supplied doesn’t name
each performer’s role.
Though early on I wonder how things would go, in the end Mama Does Derby
is drama with a happy ending, and I’m glad it is, for it offers women
the encouragement they need to be strong and self-determined.
