MAMA DOES DERBY ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

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Mama Does Derby co creators Clare Watson and Virginia Gay
Photo by Claudio Rascella

Mama Does Derby 

Co creator and director Clare Watson Co creator and writer. Virginia Gay. Story consultant Ivy Miller. Designer Jonathan Oxlade. Lighting designer Lucy Birkinshaw. Music director, Guitar and Vocals Joe Paradise Lui. Luke Smiles Sound designer. Cast: Amber McMahon Mama/Maxine. Elvy-Lee Quinci – Billie. Aud Mason-Hyde – Hux. Annabel Matheson Drew “The Wombat” and Therapist Agatha. Antoine Jelk Voice of Nathan, Neil and Drums. Benjamin Hancock-Nathan. Dylan Miller-Dave and Neil. Calliope Jackson-Bass. Katya Spitsyna- Drums. Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Adelaide Festival. February 28-March 8 2026.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Amber McMahon as Maxine. Elvy-Lee Quici as Billie in
Mama Does Derby.  Photo by Tony Lewis

Over the years Windmill Theatre has gained a well-deserved reputation as a producer of quality theatre for Children and Youth. Co creators Clare Watson and the effervescent Virginia Gay’s inspiration to collaborate with the Adelaide Roller Derby skaters to create the ambitious and fast paced Mama Does Derby for this year’s Adelaide Festival is a stroke of theatrical imagination. The roller derby acts as a  metaphor for the rough and tumble of life’s challenges and the determination to keep on getting up when you’re down.

Sixteen year old Billie (Elvy Lee Quinci) and her young mother Maxine (Amber Mc Mahon) have moved to an isolated rural community to escape the stresses and trauma of the city. It is just the two of them and they find it difficult to fit in. Billie’s adoration of artist Frida Kahlo is misunderstood and her art work in her exercise books is regarded as meaningless doodles. Billie takes out her frustration by doodling on school property. This results in her referral to a therapist (Annabel Matheson) to attempt to cure her of her vandalism. Maxine is also trying to fit in to the new situation. She seeks companionship in the company of slow-witted Dave (Dylan Miller), while Billie finds a new friend in free spirited Hux (Aud Mason-Hyde). To assist Billie to gain independence Maxine enrols her in driving lessons with despondent Neil (Dylan Miller and Antoine Jelk).  In order to engage with the community Billie suggests that her mother join the local roller derby club, managed by Drew “The Wombat” (Annabel Matheson) who persuades Maxine to enter the grand final contest.  

Alone in her room, Billie recalls the trauma of earlier domestic violence and conjures up in her mind a nightmarish black figure played by a balletic Benjamin Hancock. It is not until Billie names The figment of her fear Nathan that she is able to resolve her trauma and confront her fears with Hux’s help at a Halloween party. Maxine is persuaded to take part in the roller derby grand final and Billie and her mother find the strength to face their fears, resolve their differences, respect their needs and learn to value their life in their new community.

Mama Does Derby is slickly staged theatre in education. The writing is purposeful and direct without being simplistic or too sophisticated. Its target audience is young people facing the crises of identity, physical change, peer pressure and parental control. Billie’s fears are manifest in the nightmarish imaginings, which she is able to control once she is aware that she has learned to live with her fears that will not go away.  Both Billie and her mother have embarked on a  journey of self discovery and at times the roles of mother and daughter seems\ interchangeable. Watson and Gay’s writing balances the octane powered excitement of the rollerderby skating with the more serious introspection of dealing with trauma and anxiety.  Any young teenage audience member is likely to identify with Billie’s plight. Any single parent coping with a teenage daughter while searching for affirmation of oneself will understand Maxione’s dilemma.

Mama Does Derby is a lesson in survival and resilience. The introduction of roller derby skaters infuses the production with exuberant energy and an ingenious way of changing sets and keeping the action moving.  At times the skaters tear around the space to the live rock music of the band under the  musical direction of Joe Paradise Lui. They rollerskate the furniture around the set as well as rollerskating around Jonathan Oxlade’s clevery designed set during the musical interludes between scenes. The rough and tumble is more sedately choreographed than one would expect in a real derby but this is theatre and dramatic action evokes the mood rather than the thrill and danger of the sport. Nonetheless it gives the theatre experience an originality and an energy that holds the audience transfixed.  

Windmill’s production is entertaining.  The actors are well cast. Only Quici and to a lesser extent McMahon are afforded an emotional complexity that offers more depth to the portrayal of the character in trauma. Quici is utterly engaging and thoroughly believable as a young teenage girl attempting to chart life’s challenges and overcome personal insecurities. McMahon captures the struggle that comes with early motherhood. The bond between Billie and Maxine remains strong and we remain confident that both mother and daughter will survive and succeed.  In the Entertainment Centre the play could have been edited, but I could be responding to the discomfort of the freezing air conditioning. The play is written for young audiences and deserved a larger audience of young people than at the performance I attended. “That was fun” an older audience member said as she left the theatre. She is right. But Mama Does Derby also has a serious message to convey. The most shattering line in the script is uttered by McMahon when she cries out at Billie “I have been held hostage too long to your mental health.”  Windmill’s production is a lot of sit back and enjoy fun, but I left the theatre thinking that there is still work to be done to fulfil the play’s potential to have a more profound impact.