Given her enviable gift for comic timing, it’s worth listening when Calamity Jane star Virginia Gay suggests that authenticity is at the heart of making folks laugh.
‘I’m a huge believer in the power of comedy,’ she says. ‘When you hear people talking in comic shorthand, you believe that connection.’
Mama Does Derby: quick links
Mama Does Derby: creative collaboration
This belief underpins Mama Does Derby, Gay’s latest creative collaboration with best mate and Windmill Theatre Company Artistic Director Clare Watson, which debuts at Sydney Festival in January before travelling to Adelaide Festival the following month.
Watson directs the work, set in and around the roller derby scene in a regional Australian town, with Gay’s writing inspired by Watson and her daughter Ivy’s naturally sassy repartee. ‘In under two minutes, we love these two, because we believe this connection,’ Gay says.
North by Northwest star Amber McMahon plays the character known as Mum, who has upped sticks, settling in a new place with her teenage daughter, Billie, played by Single Asian Female actor Elvy-Lee Quici.
As Watson explains, ‘Amber’s been on the project since our second development, and her voice in the room has been essential to the tone of the work, bringing ideas that we could never have imagined ourselves.
‘And Elvy-Lee is a terrifically kooky actor who makes off-the-wall choices. Together they depict a beautiful relationship between a mother and a daughter that’s realistically playful and fun.’
Mama Does Derby: Mother-daughter drama
Playful and fun it may be, but Mama Does Derby doesn’t glide over the more difficult aspects of teenage angst and parental crises.
‘Billie and her mum absolutely adore and are on top of each other, but of course they tear each other apart a little bit,’ Gay says. ‘It’s about how you come back, less co-dependent, from that, which is something that every parent-child relationship goes through.’
Reality bites. ‘With the exception of extreme and terrible abuses, you grow up thinking that your parents are your heroes,’ Gay adds. ‘That they’re indestructible, flawless gods. Then you suddenly recognise that they’re fallible, human and can be selfish. That they have their own drives, desires and passions, and they’re not just there to serve you. I think that’s really valuable for an audience, to sit in that.’
Especially when there’s a lot going on in our world, and that of the characters. ‘Billie is taking on more responsibility than a teenager’s meant to, in their heart and soul,’ Watson says. ‘So we’re looking at her mental health and anxiety levels, which Virginia’s dealt with so intelligently and sensitively.’
Youth mental health foundation Headspace has come on board to support the production. ‘Before we even worked out the plot,’ Gay explains, ‘there was this sense that Mum was always outrunning her demons and that movement kept her buoyant, but Billie is weighed down by that responsibility.
‘Ivy, who has just turned 22, has been a consultant, and she said, “We feel like you’ve left the world in this terrible state, and we have to fix it, but we’re fucking teenagers. We don’t have the agency or the autonomy to do that, but it feels like it’s our responsibility now.” So that’s the energetic push-and-pull of this piece.’
Mama Does Derby: punk and pop
Mama Does Derby’s cast includes members of the Sydney and Adelaide Roller Derby Leagues, with participants corralled on a set created by designer Jonathan Oxlade; the production features sequences set on and off a recreated roller derby track.
‘The audience is seated in traverse, so they can always see the other side of the audience,’ Watson says. ‘It’s all about the power of community, so the fact that we can sit there and witness ourselves in the action feels pretty great.’
Roller derby has a strong DIY aesthetic, Watson adds. ‘I hope we’ve managed to maintain that through the work. Everything, including a punk band, comes in on wheels pulled or pushed around by the skaters, giving us this strange dream-like quality … [echoing] Billie having trouble sleeping or the way memory can be a little bit slippery at times.’
Watson says it’s been a dream working with the roller derby athletes. ‘They’re amazing, with their whole ethos being that it’s by the skaters, for the skaters, with decisions made in a really equitable way, so they’re the most incredible collaborators.’
Naturally gifted performers, too, Gay suggests. ‘I’m a new convert to derby and the star quality that comes from these athletes,’ she says. ‘They’re covered in glitter and sequins, and they get the crowd screaming for them.’
Read: Sydney Festival 2026 celebrates 50 years of helping shape the city’s culture
The punk band, a regular sight at derby grand finals, is led by musical director Joe Paradise Lui (Rebecca) on guitar, Antoine Jelk on drums as well as acting, plus Calliope Jackson on bass. Their presence in the production is about bringing the audience into the world of roller derby and going, ‘This is exhilarating,’ Gay says. ‘There’s so much dynamism, so much character.’
Musically, there’s something for everyone, Watson suggests. ‘The band will do covers of the Pixies, but also Charlie XCX, so we feel like we’ve covered the spectrum of fabulous.’
Mama Does Derby sounds like a gig that’s about to go off.‘I reckon one of the stars of our show is our lighting designer, Lucy Birkinshaw, because the rig is a bit like a stadium rock concert,’ Gay adds. ‘That’s a really important dynamic of the piece that’s so thrilling. It feels like a live music extravaganza.’
And what if skaters crash on any given night, I ask Gay, who replies: ‘What utopia doesn’t have bruises and scrapes?’
Mama Does Derby: Creating work that slays
Returning to the importance of authenticity, Gay says she took a leaf out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s book, depicting the ‘comedy horror’ of adolescence without condescending to younger audience members, with an added pinch of Gilmore Girls, too
‘When Clare asked me to write Mama Does Derby, I said it would have to be peer-to-peer,’ Gay recalls. ‘That’s the only way you can work, with teenagers.’
Something that Watson grasps, innately. She was a secondary school teacher before moving into the theatrical world, including a stint as the Artistic Director of St Martins Youth Arts Centre.
‘I worked with young people to make work for adult audiences, but I haven’t actually necessarily made a lot of work for younger audiences,’ she says. ‘So this feels new and exciting in a lot of ways, alongside the sense of responsibility to make something culturally literate that’s exciting, engaging and funny that will get them on the edge of their seat and hopefully make them want to come back to the theatre.’
Read: Children are cultural agents
Gay certainly wants to explore more theatrical collaborations with Watson in the future. ‘When we are together, we’re a powerful, energetic force in the world, and the striking thing is how joyful it is to be in a Clare Watson room,’ Gay says. ‘Sometimes it feels almost mystical, and I’m a person who is powered by science, but there are these things that fall into place just when we need them.’
Mystical or not, the feeling’s mutual. ‘I remember meeting you for the very first time, Virginia, and just feeling this incredible force that comes from you,’ Watson says. ‘It’s your intelligence, your sense of humour, dynamism and incredible work ethic. It doesn’t feel like work when we’re working together.’
Just like Billie and her mum, they have that spark, Watson says. ‘When you’ve got great banter, I come away from that inspired and wanting to do more.’
Mama Does Derby runs from 15 – 22 January at Sydney Town Hall as part of Sydney Festival 2026, and 27 February – 8 March at Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre for Adelaide Festival 2026.
Read: Adelaide Festival 2026: Matthew Lutton reveals his inaugural program
