Clare Watson brings a semi-autobiographical show brimming with tenacity to the Brisbane Festival and audiences are in for a ride!
Fusing live roller derby, theatre and live music, Mama Does Derby is a comedy-horror that’s been praised for its ability to tackle a mother and daughter relationship with such kinetic energy. Debuting at Sydney Festival in January 2026 before playing at the Adelaide Festival, we chatted with Mama Does Derby director and co-creator Clare Watson, about her latest work ahead of its Brisbane season.
Mama Does Derby tells the story of mother and daughter Maxine and Billie; about their relationship with each other and with life. As the title suggests roller derby is an integral part of the story and the live show. It might seem an unlikely pairing on paper, but this story highlights the surprisingly obvious similarities between roller derby and single parenting; both navigated at breakneck speed.
Combining Roller Derby and Theatre
“There are definitely things about roller derby that are quite similar to theatre; the chorus work, the sense of ensemble, the sense of performance, the connection to audience, all of those things felt like it actually made it an easy marriage.” The work portrays a roller derby team, and their tricks and choreography all happen on skates on stage. Watson explains what it’s been like harnessing the raw energy of roller derby and containing it in a venue for a live audience who may have never experienced the ‘crunching’ of the sport.
“Thinking about it from the audience perspective, how do you make sure people who’ve never been to roller derby get an experience that’s going to make them want to go and support the sport? And we have so many people who are roller derby athletes, roller derby aficionados, so we worked very collaboratively with the roller derby community to make sure that the sport was being represented effectively.”
“They have this scene that’s quite a choreographed bout with slow-mo sections. And they’re also moving all of the set pieces. It’s one of my favourite things about the work; the kind of balletic and athletic and crisp way in which these athletes work together. The unison is spectacular as they’re bringing these set pieces in, it’s definitely athletic, but it’s also got a sense of the balletic about it. The skills of these athletes are extraordinary.” Remarking on how much detail and refined skill is required to execute roller derby despite how rough and tumble it can look from the outside, she says “the other thing that I love about the sport is the teamwork and the communication within the team. The unit of the team is quite extraordinary.”
Reflecting on the consultation process, she says “we ended up working with the Adelaide Roller Derby League, so there were a number of team members here who helped create the kind of physical language of the world with Larissa McGowan (choreographer). Then we also worked in Sydney with Inner West and we’re about to work with the Brisbane Skaters. Each time a group of athletes come and work with us we make sure they can feel like they’ve got themselves in the work.” She remarks “interestingly all of the derby athletes have all been incredible to work with in the rehearsal space. There hasn’t been a lot lost in translation at all which is pretty incredible.”
Mama Does Derby. Photo © Photo: Claudio Raschella.
The collaborative rehearsal process
Following on from Watson’s comments about athleticism and performance, I was keen to find out about the learnings from producing sports-based productions.
“Well, interestingly, I have previously done a show about roller skating, but it was a different style; artistic roller skating, and I’ve also done one that was loosely about tennis. The thing that I love about making work that looks at sport is that from my point of view is the way in which artists really thrive, and the way in which sports people really strive – the dedication and rigour that is essential in that sense of striving. It feels like fertile territory for people making theatre and all the artists that I’m lucky enough to collaborate with.”
The other thing that I love about it is that you’re not always getting a theatre audience to the show. Mama Does Derby is a great example; it’s for families so we get lots of young people come and see the show. Sometimes it’s their first theatre experience and that feels like such an honour and a privilege to be part of that for people.
Bringing a personal story to the table
Because the story is semi-autobiographical, we discussed how Watson’s daughter Ivy Miller contributed and how she felt about having their shared story played out for an audience.
Engaged as a story consultant, Watson says “She (Miller) was actually in the very first development conversation that we had with Virginia Gay. And before that, talking about the premise of this work, what it might look like, what it might feel like. She’s been the most important collaborator, obviously in life, but also on this work. I think for both of us it has felt in some ways exposing but we felt really held by all of the team around us and we have felt very supported and confident in the work that the incredible Virginia Gay has done. We’re both friends with Virginia so we’ve really trusted her as a collaborator in this.”
Interested to hear if Miller ever had to rein in any specific scenes that she felt were too close to home during the process, Watson says “the thing that she did in the process, which was so lovely, is that she was often more protective of Maxine, the character of the mum. Maxine is presented as somebody who is full of energy and super fun, but not particularly grounded or reliable as a parent and that has created a parentification in Billie, the daughter. I think a lot of the things that Ivy was concerned about was making sure that the mum, Maxine, was given enough opportunity to be the caring, loving adult in the audience’s eyes. Whereas I think I was probably more concerned with making sure the story focused on Billie, the daughter.”
“A strange thing happens when you bring a personal story into a rehearsal room and you hand it over to collaborators like Virginia, but also our amazing cast and crew. It is no longer just yours, it becomes characters, it becomes a story, it becomes something that you’re thinking about the audiences experience of. It wasn’t until we had an opening night that it felt it had that moment of, ‘oh gosh, we’re telling the world a lot about ourselves.’
But I think for both Ivy and I it has, and continues to, strengthen our bond. That’s been a really lovely thing to do together. That’s really special.”
Collaborating with Virginia Gay
Given it’s such a personal account, it would have taken an immense amount of trust to give it the reverence it deserves, plus the comedic flair and avoid it becoming overly sentimental. Watson explains what made Gay the perfect choice for writing her story.
“Interestingly Virginia was Ivy’s suggestion, many years before we started making it. It is partly because of her comedic flair, and also because of her deep intelligence, her theatrical acuity, her wit and she’s just a trusted friend who knows both Ivy and I. I think we both felt that our own part of the story would be presented effectively by Virginia; she wouldn’t prioritise one over the other. And it really is a story of two main characters who are having two different journeys. The other thing is just knowing that Virginia is this fabulous feminist, queer icon and just the kind of fit with derby felt really strong, which is so funny because she refuses to put roller skates on her feet.
“When I first approached Virginia about it, I think she felt there was a kind of adultness to her style that wouldn’t necessarily fit with a younger audience. But I challenged that for her, and to not think about diluting things; to think about them as being, as an audience, culturally literate. I completely trusted her to write something that would hit for that audience and I think she really achieved that, which is great.”
Balancing the physical with the narrative
The fluidity of Jonathon Oxlade‘s set makes for swift transitions that keep the momentum high, using having set pieces on wheels. I was interested to learn about how Watson found and managed that balance between the narrative pace and literal pace of the skates. “The narrative pace is really quick. Virginia’s written these really short sharp scenes and there’s so many shifts between them. So in that sense this is almost more like television or film – having the set on wheels definitely let us do that.”
“Lucy Birkinshaw (lighting designer) helped with this, and Luke Smiles (sound designer) helped with this as well. The sense of going from the intimate domestic scenes between Mama and Billie in home or in therapy and then bleeding out into these big skate sequences, going from these epic settings to intimate settings, it was definitely tricky for us to all navigate but I feel like we found that rhythm.”
Connecting the physicality with the characters, she says “the thing that I love about the fluidity of the moving set pieces is while Maxine is always on the move and always needing to keep going (it’s like she’s running from something within her; she’s got that kind of energy) Billie is experiencing anxiety and is literally feeling trapped and stuck. There’s the idea of Billie being trapped, with everything constantly whirring around her, not ever being able to fully anchor and ground and have a world that feels stable. I think that’s probably why she’s trying to stop. That’s why she’s feeling so stuck and she’s in that freeze mode. So, to me there was something really lovely about the way in which Jonathon’s set spoke to Billie’s mental health experience. There are therapy scenes with Billie and Maxine on the couch and they’re wheeling around the space, they’re in this constant motion, so it really does help tell the story of where Billie’s at.”
“My favourite bit with the set is with all pieces of a house, different rooms in the house. And we’ve got the punk band in the bathroom. But then the house itself fits together like a puzzle and becomes one big house and can actually do 360 rotations, which is amazing.” Commenting on Oxlade’s interpretation and understanding of the work, she says “there’s this beautiful sequence where Billie and Mama are fighting and the house itself starts to crack apart. It’s got this ‘ice caps melting’ sort of feel. It’s really lovely. I think the way in which it’s used practically, but also the way Jonathon’s created something that can be used dramaturgically for an audience experience is pretty fun.”
How the Mama Does Derby process has differed from other productions
“We got to spend time reading the script, in doing detailed scene work but the moment we started to put it up and on the floor, we needed to have a very large rehearsal space. And obviously then we brought in the roller derby team too. I guess every show is different though. Every show has its own demands and it’s quite a different process, but the one thing that this one needed was space, a lot of it.”
The production involves band musicians playing live on stage which had me wondering whether Watson’s and Miller’s own music preference influenced the playlist and if the live punk band was a reflection of Watson’s personal taste during those years. “Well, my favourite band is The Pixies, so yeah, definitely.
Joe Lui, the musical director, had selected some works and then were selected by all of us. But definitely there’s a split between the music that Billie would listen to and the music that Maxine would listen to. And I would say that in Maxine’s bag, there’s definitely The Pixies and in Billie’s, there’s these amazing punk covers of Charli xcx so it appeals to parents coming with their teenagers as well, ideally it should appeal fairly broadly.”
“The music really speaks to the story in some of the song choices and lyrics, but the punk sound just has that grit. And if you go to a roller derby bout often there’s live music, punk inspired. So really the musical style and the musical choices are definitely reflective of the derby world and aesthetic, which you could say is all about grit. I guess in that way it does evoke the character of the mum. But it was definitely more about world creation and story support. The eras of music were more representative of character.”
Representing anxiety in Billie
A central character in the show has a distinct demonic undertone to represent the feeling of anxiety. I asked if it was a deliberate choice to give this mental health struggle its own visceral presence on stage, rather than washing over it or keeping it purely internal? “Yes. Billie is experiencing anxiety and that comes out as sleeping disorders and the idea of a sleep demon that appears like a shadow and almost a fluid, oily, terrifying creature that can just sit in the shadows, felt like a really important thing to attempt to depict in making the work.”
“We talked about a number of different ways of trying to create this sense of something that is terrifying that nobody else can see that you feel is absolutely real and therefore we wanted it to be embodied by a person and Benjamin Hancock, also known as Bendy Ben, is a person who’s playing this sleep demon. Benjamin Hancock is an extraordinary contortionist, a performer and dancer that brings this incredible flexible palette to the depiction of this demon that exists in Billie’s eyes only. Reflecting on why it was so important to give the anxiety its’ own character who sits outside of Billie, she says “I think one of the things that has felt really important about the work is that so many young people are dealing with anxiety and just a recognition that your mental health experience is not you. That it’s possible to separate what you’re experiencing and why you’re experiencing that and not be fully defined by it but understand that that’s something that you are living with and you can find ways of living with it that are more manageable. That was a way of being able to tell that story through this work.”
“I think one of the story arcs of this show that I really love is the kind of personification of this sleep demon becoming less scary, a bit more annoying. He really does have this shift and it’s like, ‘well, you’re not going to go away, but you don’t need to be running the show. I don’t need to always be completely inhibited and stopped by your appearance. You can still be there, and I can get on with the things that make me happy.’ That felt like a really important story to show young people, and I think it’s one of the things that Virginia created an opportunity for us all as theatre makers to do something really special there for a younger audience.”
Broadening the audience
Perfect for for theatre-goers who know little about sport, or sports and roller derby fans who’ve never been to the theatre before. It’s for live music lovers and horror-comedy fans, Mama Does Derby has a very broad appeal and is suitable for ages 13+. Watson says “if they’ve seen a lot of sport and then they’re getting this theatre experience, I love that we can create experiences that are a bit of a bridge between those two worlds. You can behave exactly the way you would at a sports game in this particular theatre show. You get the chance to barrack, you can scream and yell. It feels different to the expectation that sometimes we have of audiences sitting quietly in the dark, this is a bit of a wild ride. We’ve got the skaters, we’ve got a punk band, it’s an experience. It feels different to a lot of theatre work in that it’s absolutely about the experience of the show. So, yeah, I’d do that again.”
You can see Mama Does Derby at Brisbane Festival, playing from September 3rd – 5th 2026.
