Rock and rolling into Mama Does Derby

Virgina Gay and Clare Watson discuss the comic horror of adolescence and a mother who redefines herself through roller derby.
A woman in a bright roller derby uniform and protective gear, including pads and helmets, skates out of a cloud of theatrical smoke. Mama Does Derby

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.

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.

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Stephen A Russell is a Melbourne-based arts writer. His writing regularly appears in Fairfax publications, SBS online, Flicks, Time Out, The Saturday Paper, The Big Issue and Metro magazine. You can hear him on Joy FM.