Review: Mama Does Derby 2026 Sydney Festival

The queue for Adelaide-based Windmill Production Company’s latest creation Mama Does Derby stretches down the Sydney Town Hall steps. The crowd, surprisingly older than expected, is buzzing. The cramped Druitt St foyer is packed with punters eyeing off the roller derby merch. Inside, the ground floor of the venerable old dame has been transformed into a roller derby track stretched between two banks of opposed seating. Roller derby warm-up time – and we are pumped!

Co-created by writer Virginia Gay and inspired by director and collaborator Clare Watson’s personal history, Mama Does Derby sees mother Maxine (Amber McMahon) and 16-year-old daughter Billie (Elvy-Lee Quici) washed up in yet another regional town, clinging to each other for support.

Maxine’s way of providing this is to be Billie’s BFF, the fun mum constantly wisecracking while abrogating her parental role. It’s a little bit Saffy and Edina from Ab Fab, but without the comedic tartness.

As Maxine continues behaving like a teenager, Billie becomes increasingly anxious. But when Maxine finally dares to find a sense of place and identity in the local roller derby community, Billie feels abandoned just as she is grappling with her own identity.

Directed by Watson at a cracking pace with a playful positivity as befits the production’s ethos, the play examines how women can find themselves trapped in lonely places, desperate for support that is often difficult to find. 

The early scenes aim for big, crazy, and lovable, but miss the mark because the humour is not sharp enough. McMahon strives hard to compensate, but can only do so much with such a broadly written OTT character. 

Quici fares better because Billie is more clearly defined and believable, and Quici’s sincerity rings true. There is a Snowtown joke that lands well. Yep, they went there. In fact, it’s a shame the script didn’t go there more often to provide a little more shade and bite, as it does in the later, increasingly pointed interactions between a school counsellor (a funny Annabel Matheson) and mother and daughter.

Mama Does Derby gels in later scenes when tension develops in the mother-daughter relationship, bringing some real emotional heat. Billie’s anxieties become so acute that they assume physical form as a shape-shifting demon, Nathan (Benjamin Hancock).

Hancock not so much moves as oozes and contorts with an oily sinuousness that is enhanced by a stunning black sequined costume from designer Jonathon Oxlade and maker Ziva Von Der Borch. Hello darkness, where have you been? It’s a brilliant theatrical representation of mental trauma.

Still, even as it interrogates what it means to be a woman fleeing an abusive relationship, Mama Does Derby is meant to be fun and a little bit frothy. The male characters, Dave (Dylan Miller) and Neil (Antoine Jelk, who also doubles on drums in the band), exist largely for comic relief, which is quite entertaining.

This production is definitely about spectacle. How couldn’t it be with so many (literal) moving parts? Plus dramatic lighting from Lucy Birkinshaw and booming sound. Not to mention a 3-piece punk band (another nod to derby culture) covering a range of songs from the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage, through Tina Turner, to a great outro with The Distance by Cake.

So much so that it’s with some relief when moments of respite arrive with the quietly assured performance from Aud Mason-Hyde as Hux, Billie’s new friend and potential love interest. 

Roller derby, predominantly a women’s sport, is positioned at the heart of a narrative emphasising themes of empowerment and community for women. From staging a climactic race to manipulating set changes, the ten Sydney Roller Derby League athletes are also integral to the mechanics of the production.

Here, Oxlade’s design embraces the fluidity of movement inherent in roller skating. Sets and props are mounted on wheels that fit together like Lego. It works seamlessly, aided by some wizardry from choreographer Larissa McGowan. 

Mama Does Derby is something of a bildungsroman – for 16-year-old Billie certainly, but perhaps also for Maxine. Their relationship is ‘normalised’ through a catharsis courtesy of roller derby. You don’t have to embrace the ending, and Mama Does Derby doesn’t traverse virgin territory, but it does have some big theatrical elements, a lot of heart, and – roller derby! 

Mama Does Derby is presented by Windmill Production Company and runs to 22 January at Sydney Town Hall as part of 2026 Sydney Festival. 483 George Street NSW 2000.

It then runs 27 February – 8 March as part of Adelaide Festival.

Get tickets here.

Website: https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/mama-does-derby

Socials: https://www.instagram.com/sydney_festival/ and https://www.instagram.com/windmillprodco/

Photo credits: Claudio Raschella