3–5 Sep
MAMA DOES DERBY CLARE WATSON | VIRGINIA GAY
A hilarious and heartfelt mother–daughter story.
Theatre
“One of the best I have seen in a while. Heartwarming, funny, and emotional."
“… hilarious and brutally tender.” ArtsHub
The Advertiser
A single mum, a teenage daughter, and a new life in a regional town where neither quite fits. It’s always been just the two of them against the world, dancing in supermarkets, getting the hell out after the ‘Very Bad Thing’. Now Mum is finding rebellion in the sweaty, radical world of roller derby, while Billie’s anxieties are manifesting in unnerving ways. Windmill Production Company’s Mama Does Derby is a no-holds-barred riot of reinvention and reckoning — about falling down, getting back up, and making friends with your demons.
DURATION 90min (no interval)
Accessibility Auslan Interpreted & Audio Described Performance Sat 5 Sep, 1:00pm
CONTENT WARNING
Production contains some strong language and references to domestic violence and mental health. Includes theatrical smoke, haze, lighting effects, live music and loud noise. Recommended for ages 12+.
A message from the director / co-creator
Clare Watson Roller derby is a sport full of tenacious, dynamic humans who work together as a team… Honing their skills, pushing themselves, constantly communicating, making the conditions just right for their jammer to fang it. The making of Mama Does Derby has felt just the same. This team is simply stellar — from every skater, actor, musician to our Windmill wonders, our courageous crew and creatives… This enormous and wonderful team have demonstrated the power of community on the daily. Our community includes the brilliant teams of Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Brisbane Festival, MFI and the Creative Futures
Fund… a special shout out to Wendy, Kris, Louise and Ebony for getting us rolling. Mama Does Derby is dedicated to the memory of Sarah Strong-Law (Barrelhouse Bessy) who is the founder of roller derby in Adelaide in 2007. Barrelhouse Bessy chose to create a community whose ethos is ‘daggy and endearing’ we hope that we’ve met that brief. And we hope that Mama Does Derby will inspire you to be your weird, wonderful self, possibly strap on some skates and most importantly give to your community. As Frida Kahlo says “everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away”. Life is short… Let’s get amongst it.
A message from writer / co-creator
Virginia Gay We wanted to make something that yelled about everything that was excellent about live theatre – live music, exhilarating movement, huge heart, constant jokes, the roar of a crowd, and a heavilysequined surprise character. You know, all the classic tropes. We wanted to make something that harnessed the electricity that went through every Australian, but I would argue particularly every Australian girl, when the Matildas got into the World Cup. We wanted to write a love letter to cool, complicated single mums and their quiet, complicated kids, and to honour that very specific time in your life where your parents stop being your heroes and start being your triggers — how that propels you apart, and how you, delicately, carefully, come back from that. We wanted to make something that acknowledged that a lot of the great
teenagers we know feel like they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, that they have to fix the mess we’ve left for them, and what that does to a little soul, who’s also just trying to get by, make friends, keep sane, survive high school... We wanted to talk about the anxieties that torment us, the things that stop us from sleeping at night (or haunt our dreams when we do), and we wanted to do it in the context of a comedy horror where those demons take physical forms, because Buffy actually is the most important text of my generation, and I need to pass its learnings on. And we wanted to make a show that celebrated funny, silly, wonderful, bonkers, big-hearted humans who populate small towns, extended families and roller derby leagues. It’s been such a joy making this show with Windmill, with our brilliant cast and creatives, with Clare and Ivy, with Brisbane Festival and with our awesome skaters. We hope it makes you roar and cheer and throw yourself at something, physically or metaphorically.
The team Cast & Creatives Co-Creator & Director
Clare Watson
Co-Creator & Writer
Virginia Gay
Assistant Director & Choreographer
Larissa McGowan
Designer
Jonathon Oxlade
Lighting Designer
Lucy Birkinshaw
Music Director / Guitar & Vocals
Joe Paradise Lui
Sound Designer
Luke Smiles
Story Consultant
Ivy Miller
Skate Consultant
Jude “Vaderella” Gaffney
Performer (Mama/Maxine)
Anna Lindner
Performer (Billie)
Elvy-Lee Quici
Performer (Drew ‘The Wombat’ & Therapist Agatha)
Annabel Matheson
Performer (Hux)
Aud Mason-Hyde
Performer (Neil, Voice of Nathan) & Drums
Antoine Jelk
Performer (Nathan)
Benjamin Hancock
Performer (Dave)
Dylan Miller
Bass
Calliope Jackson
Derby Athletes
Members of the Queensland Roller Derby League
Crew Producer
Kaye Weeks
Production Manager
Abigail Heuer
Production Consultant
Peter Kelly
Stage Manager
Mikayla Hosking
Company Stage Manager
Meabh Walton
Assistant Stage Manager
Taylor Dawson
Head Mechanist
Benjamin Johnston
Head Lighting
Ellen Demaagd
Head Sound
Patrick Pages-Oliver
Associate Sound Designer
Sascha Budimski
Skate Consultant & Derby Assistant Stage Manager
Maddy “BB Gun” Wilkinson
Props & Costume Maker
Renate Henschke
Costume Makers
Ziva Von Der Borch, Olivia Zanchetta, Eden Boucher, Alinta Von Der Borch, Shannon Cooke
Scenic Artists
Abi Drummond, Anna Van Den Broek
Set Build
Michael Kumnick, TSA, Jardine
Cover Photo Credit
Claudio Raschella
Production Photo Credits
Bri Hammond, Claudio Raschella
Windmill Production Company Windmill Production Company has a global reputation as a leading producer of theatre and screen projects for children, teenagers and families. We bring artists together to uncover and ignite stories that are burning to be told. Each year we perform in our hometown (Adelaide), and tour across Australia and around the world.
@windmillprodco
windmill.org.au
About the artists
Clare Watson
Virginia Gay
Clare Watson is a multi-award-winning director and theatre-maker. In 2023, she was appointed Artistic Director of Windmill. Her first work for the company, Hans and Gret, enjoyed a sell-out season at the Adelaide Festival. Her recent works include Moss Piglet and Mama Does Derby.
Virginia Gay is an award-winning actor, writer and director. She recently starred in Colin From Accounts, SBS’ Safe Home, Savage River and Thank God You’re Here. She was Artistic Director of Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2024/25 and received a Logie nomination for most Outstanding Supporting Actor for After The Verdict. She won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress for Calamity Jane, wrote and starred in Cyrano for MTC in 2022. Cyrano had a smash-hit new production for EdFringe 2024 (winning a Fringe First Award for Most Outstanding New Writing), followed by a London season (nominated for an Off West End Award for Best Lead Actor). In 2026 she directed Yve Blake’s new show Mackenzie for Bell Shakespeare.
Co-Creator & Director
From 2016-2022 she was Artistic Director of Black Swan State Theatre Company and the former Artistic Director at St Martins Youth Centre. Clare has directed work for several major theatre companies and festivals including Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir, Melbourne Theatre Company, State Theatre Company South Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival, Adelaide Festival among others. She directed a production of Cyrano adapted by Virginia Gay which won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh and was nominated in London for 3 Offies Awards including Best Production and Best Director. Clare is the recipient of a Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award.
Co-Creator & Writer
Larissa McGowan Assistant Director & Choreographer
Larissa McGowan is an award-winning Australian dancer and choreographer. An independent choreographer and movement consultant she was a longstanding performer and Associate Choreographer with Australian Dance Theatre (ADT). She is currently Associate Artist for Restless Dance Theatre. In 2003 she won the Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer and Best Female Dancer in a Ballet or Dance Work at the Helpmann Awards and the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer in 2004.
Jonathon Oxlade Designer
Jonathon is an award-winning designer. He has designed for major theatre companies including Windmill, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, State Theatre Company of SA, Black Swan, Belvoir, LaBoite, Bell Shakespeare, Is This Yours?, Aphids, Arena Theatre Company, Polyglot, The Real TV Project, Polytoxic, Men of Steel, Lemony S Puppet Theatre, Terrapin, Vitalstatistix, Barking Gecko, The Border Project, Dead Puppet Society, The Last Great Hunt, The Escapists and Sandpit. In 2023, he won an APDG Award for Beep and Mort Series 1. He designed Windmill’s feature film, Girl Asleep and won the ACCTA Award for Best Costume Design with a nomination for Best Production Design, as well as two APDG Awards.
Lucy Birkinshaw
Joe Paradise Lui
Lucy is an award-winning lighting designer and artist. Lucy has designed for companies including Black Swan, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse, Rone, Juluwarlu Group, Yirra Yaakin, Griffin Theatre, WA Ballet, Barking Gecko, Windmill, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Opera Australia, Melbourne Opera, Lyric Opera, WAYTCO, Sensorium, Perth International Arts Festival and more. Lucy’s recent designs include Time: Perth for the artist Rone, Never Have I Ever and The Seed with Black Swan State Theatre Company, Nothing Twice (Robert Bondara), Carnivale.6 (Raewyn Hill), mattering (James O’Hara) with WA Ballet, The Whale & Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge with Spare Parts, and Hairspray with HAMA Productions. Lucy was nominated for Outstanding Lighting Design for three of these designs in the recent PAWA Awards.
Joe Paradise Lui (it/its) is a submerging artist who puts the mid in mid-career. It is the undisputed winner of the 2013 Spirit of the Fringe award. It has won no awards since.
Lighting Designer
Music Director / Guitar & Vocals
Joe creates experimental theatre and performance works as Renegade Productions. Joe was the artist in residence at the Malthouse Theatre for 2023/2024. Joe’s most recent directing work was on Legends of the Golden Arches (Perth Festival/Rising/Melbourne Theatre Company). Its most recent independent directing work was whitesnake3000, (CO:3 dance company). Joe is also a writer, and a sound and lighting designer. Recent sound design credits include Is God Is (Melbourne Theatre Company), and This Is Living (Malthouse Theatre).
Luke Smiles
Ivy Miller
Luke works across all areas of sound including sound design, foley, sound effects editing and music composition. He has worked nationally and around the world.
Ivy Miller is an emerging designer and stage manager currently completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Recent credits include Set Designer on Cendrillon (dir. Johanna Allen), Stage Manager on The Other Shore (dir. Bernadette Fam), Stage Manager and Set Designer on EQUALS (dir. Cynda Beare) at Midsumma Festival 2025, Assistant Stage Manager on Curtains (dir. Roger Hodgman), and Workshop Assistant for the 2024 Season one VCA graduate shows.
Sound Designer
Luke has created soundtracks artists and companies such as All The Queens Men, Australian Dance Theatre, Australasian Dance Collective, Bare Bones Dance Company, Brink Productions, Belvoir, Chunky Move, Dancenorth, Frontier Danceland, Gabrielle Nankivell, Melbourne Theatre Company, Nederlands Dans Theatre, Ox, Rachel Arianne Ogle, Rambert Dance Company, Restless Dance Theatre, State Theatre Company South Australia, Sydney Dance Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Tasdance, The Farm, West Australian Ballet and Windmill. In 2013 he received a Helpmann Award nomination for Best Sound Design of Windmill’s School Dance.
Jude “Vaderella” Gaffney Skate Consultant
Jude Gaffney has been part of Roller Derby’s flat track revival since its grassroots beginnings in Australia, helping to found Adelaide Roller Derby back in 2007. What started as a small, passionate community has become a powerful movement built on teamwork, resilience, and inclusion. For Jude, Derby has always been for everyone, no matter who you are or where you come from, there’s a place for you on the track and in the community.
Story Consultant
Maddy “BB Gun” Wilkinson
Skate Consultant & Derby Assistant Stage Manager Maddy (AKA BB Gun) has been lucky enough to have the magic of roller derby in her life since 2008, when she watched Adelaide Roller Derby’s very first season with her dad. She would skate around the track at halftime, soaking up skills from the league’s pioneer, the beloved Barrelhouse Bessy. Maddy joined a junior league at nine years old and played for years, also traveling interstate. After a little break, Maddy came full circle and joined Adelaide Roller Derby in 2023. Maddy now skates with The Wild Hearses and also represents on our Adelaide travel team. Maddy skates as BB Gun, her own little homage to the late, great legend and friend Bessy.
Anna Lindner
Elvy-Lee Quici
Anna is an actor and writer from South Australia. Acting credits include the television comedy series Austin (ABC/ Northern Pictures), and feature film It’s all Going Very Well (dir: Tilda Cobham-Hervey). Anna wrote and starred in AACTA award winning comedy drama The Beginner’s Guide to Grief (SBS), also receiving an AWGIE nomination. She starred in Blame the Rabbit (dir: Elena Carapetis), winner of Best Short Film 2024 at Adelaide Film Festival, The Hunting (SBS/Netflix dir: Sophie Hyde, Ana Kokkinos) and upcoming feature An Ideal Corpse (dir: Aaron Schuppan). Her theatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, The Puzzle, and Blasted (State Theatre Company of South Australia) and Memmie Le Blanc (Vitalstatistix/Deckchair Theatre).
Elvy-Lee Quici (She/Her) is an ItalianVietnamese, Australian actor, performer, writer and maker based in AdelaideMelbourne. Since graduating from Flinders Drama Centre in 2022, she has starred in Wild Orchids, a queer coming of age short film, which she co-wrote and co-directed, and she was most recently seen in Single Asian Female (State Theatre Company South Australia), Dance Nation (Adelaide Fringe Festival) and Rising out of Water (SA Playwrights Theatre). Passionate to further her artistry across theatre, film and television, Elvy-Lee hopes to push boundaries and explore intersectionality through storytelling.
Annabel Matheson
Aud Mason-Hyde
Annabel is a queer performer, director, arts worker and Intimacy Coordinator. She has studied with Flinders University, UniSA and Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (USA). As a performer, Annabel has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia, Theatre Republic, Vitalstatistix, Sydney Theatre Company, ArtPop, Windmill Theatre, AKA Productions, isthisyours?, ActNow Theatre, and Foul Play Theatre.
Aud Mason-Hyde (they/them) is a young queer trans actor, activist and artist. They recently featured in international feature film Jimpa, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025, followed by the Adelaide Film Festival. In 2023, they cofounded TRANSMEDIUM, alongside filmmaker Claud Bailey. Credits include independent feature 52 TUESDAYS, the ABC six-part series F*&#ING ADELAIDE, and the 2022 short film RIGHT HERE.
Performer (Mama/Maxine)
Performer (Drew ‘The Wombat’ & Therapist Agatha)
She has directed work for independent artists, in educational settings, and with Deus Ex Femina, Theatre Republic, and Ladylike Theatre Collective. She has assistant directed with State Theatre Company South Australia and gained awards in 2024 and 2025 Adelaide Fringe Festivals for shows under her direction.
Performer (Billie)
Performer (Hux)
Aud is also a poet, public speaker, and activist. They were the winner of the Rumble U26 poetry slam in 2018 and did a TEDx talk on their lived experience of gender at just 12 years old. They have since continued into ongoing work and relational building within their queer trans communities.
Antoine Jelk
Performer (Neil, Voice of Nathan) & Drums Antoine who also produces under the name Lazy Susan, has lived and worked in Adelaide throughout his professional career and enjoyed work amongst all tiers of the local arts community as both a performer and sound designer. Between supporting independent works in film and theatre, to playing mainstage shows in the Adelaide Festival and touring nationally, he has enjoyed in equal measure the intimacy and expansiveness of these different scales of work. Antoine lives on Kaurna Country.
Dylan Miller
Performer (Dave) A graduate of Adelaide College of the Arts, Dylan has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia, Windmill Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. In 2019 he toured internationally with The Secret River. In 2024 he toured nationally with Windmill Theatre Company’s renowned production, Grug and most recently he has performed in Moss Piglet.
Benjamin Hancock Performer (Nathan)
Benjamin Hancock aka Bendy Ben is an award-winning performance artist who blurs boundaries between dance, drag, cabaret, burlesque, and club scenes. Known for their inventive use of camouflage and masks, Bendy Ben’s personas embrace parallel masculinities and femininities, celebrating queer fluidity and transformation. Benjamin has worked with leading choreographers including Lucy Guerin, Prue Lang, and Gideon Obarzanek, and collaborated with visual artists such as Dylan Martorell and Fayen d’Evie. Their performances have featured at major institutions and festivals including Chunky Move, Performance Space, NGV, and MONA. In 2024, Bendy Ben was crowned Mx Burlesque Victoria.
Acknowledgements
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia its principal arts investment and advisory body and the Major Festivals Initiative, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc., Commissioned by Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival and Sydney Festival. Made possible through the generous support of the Windmill Studio Collective and FWH Foundation. Presented by Brisbane Festival in association with Brisbane Powerhouse. This project is supported through the Giving Program by Carolyn Vincent – Ubuntu Foundation.
brisbanefestival.com.au