According to Mama Does Derby director and co-creator Clare Watson, the hit theatrical mash-up is  “not just an afternoon at the theatre”. Working on the production, says Watson, was special.

“Working with Virginia Gay as a friend and long-time collaborator has made this production feel really personal and meaningful,” adds Watson. “There’s been a specificity that has made people come up to us afterwards and say, ‘That’s my story’.”

Gay is best known for roles like Frances in Winners & Losers and Gabrielle in All Saints, along with her gender-swapped play Cyrano. She wrote and co-created Mama Does Derby, which opens at Brisbane Powerhouse on September 3 as part of Brisbane Festival.

The result is that this dynamic duo – Gay and Watson – has created a part-theatre, part-sport, part-concert experience, complete with Australian roller derby athletes. It’s an Aussie Gilmore Girls on skates, accompanied by a three-piece band with a signature sound for each lead. This star-studded performance debuted at Sydney Festival, transforming Sydney Town Hall with a custom-built, roller derby track.  The show also played Adelaide Festival earlier this year.

“It’s not just an afternoon at the theatre, it’s so much more,” Watson says.

The show explores the relationship between mother and daughter and how it shifts when the mother joins a roller derby club. Both co-leads are at a point of reinvention. Age 16 is a pivotal time for the daughter and the mother is also going through a huge hormonal transition, feeling equally uncomfortable in her body.

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“It feels like a design error that, in our families, our teenagers are changing at the exact time mothers are,” Watson says. “Menopause is a new coming-of-age story that is important to tell, having its own social and physical changes.

“The work has also been made with young people in mind. If someone is experiencing anxiety, I would hope that a work like this will help them understand that it is normal, they’re not alone, and anxiety is partly a very healthy response to living in a world which is fundamentally askew. The daughter’s anxiety at first is so terrifying it freezes her but, through an extraordinary transformation arc, it becomes more of an annoying housemate.”

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The mother is a single parent, and while it’s never explicitly shown, there are references to domestic violence, which is why roller derby has such a profound impact on her.

“In derby, there is empowerment in discovering how strong and capable your body is,” Watson says.

‘Having our little sport recognised in such a large way has been fantastic’

Roller derby is a full-contact, high-intensity team sport. A human being will essentially be the ball (called a Jammer; they have the stars on their helmet), and they have to skate past the other team’s members to try and do a lap of the oval track, scoring a point for every opposing team member they pass. Every player is in an offensive and defensive role, trying to help their Jammer while keeping back the other team’s by forming walls and often (legally) shoulder-charging someone out of the track.

Maddy Wilkinson, aka BB Gun, is skate consultant and derby assistant stage manager, lending authenticity to the play as a real roller girl. She manages a skate shop in Adelaide and worked with the actors.

“Having our little sport recognised in such a large way has been fantastic,” Wilkinson says. “Especially going to different states and incorporating local leagues. The exposure is priceless. There are so many ways to be involved in the community. Our sport could not function without referees and officials.

“Our league is incredibly tight knit,” Wilkinson says. “Not only my team (The Wild Hearses) but all the other members of our home teams came as well (to the Adelaide shows) and most on opening night. Being on your home ground with your whole league, which is almost a hundred people, cheering for everything you do, was amazing. The decibels they hit in the room that night. I don’t think it will ever be beaten.”

Mama Does Derby is part memoir of Clare Watson’s experiences, and part tribute to the pioneer of Australian roller derby.

‘Community is the core of this story … roller derby athletes are a team on and off the track’

Sarah Strong-Law, aka Barrelhouse Bessy, opened the Adelaide league in 2007. She passed away in a tragic car accident in 2022 at only 42 years of age. In her TEDx Adelaide talk, she spoke about how much she wanted to create a community where everyone is accepted as they are. She helped define the sport throughout Australia as “daggy and endearing”.

Strong-Law has left a legacy in roller derby, a sport that has continued to thrive and expand alongside its community. For Watson, the most important thing is capturing that sense of community.

“Community is the core of this story,” Watson says. “Roller derby athletes are a team on and off the track, supporting each other in the sport and throughout their lives. As a single parent, the mother has felt like she could never rely on anyone. Suddenly she is in a community that is offering support in ways she has never experienced, and it is life-changing for her.”

The show is recommended for audiences 12 and over but whole families have come along with their younger children and enjoyed it. Watson has seen everyone grace the doors, from retired rollers to queer crowds to sport fans.

“It’s intergenerational, and I love seeing everyone come together,” she says.

This show is wheelchair accessible, with assistive listening and descriptive audio, 50 per cent visual content, and has an Auslan interpreter.

Mama Does Derby plays Brisbane Powerhouse, September 3 to 5.

brisbanefestival.com.au/events/mama-does-derby

This article was written as part of The Critical Writing Program, run in partnership with Queensland Writers Centre and InReview Queensland, supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Education.