Family and Mother-Daughter Relationships

Maxine and Billie represent a non-traditional family unit; not only is Maxine a single mother raising a daughter, Billie and Maxine have also switched the traditional roles and responsibilities of parent and child. 

Billie is sixteen and navigating the challenges of adolescence and the anxieties that come with moving to a new place, all while taking on the adult responsibilities in the family. Maxine a rebellious free spirit who has never been good at staying in one place. While Billie and Maxine are closely intertwined, boundaries between the both become blurred.

Coming of Age

Billie  is ‘hardly a child’ but not yet an adult. As she learns to drive and becomes more aware of the world around her, everything begins to feel heavier and more complex – there’s climate change, cost of living, political uncertainty, and a future that feels stacked against her.

This transitional period is unsettling, marked by unexplained nightmares. Having grown up in an intensely close relationship with her mother, Billie must also learn to overcome her nightmares, form friendships, and experience life without Mama constantly by her side.

Self-Discovery & Reinvention

After moving to a quiet country town, Maxine and Billie are no longer on the run and are forced to sit with the stillness of their new life. This is unsettling for Maxine, who is used to constantly moving and doing. Her chance discovery of roller derby awakens parts of her identity she had long set aside, unlocking both her inner strength and a renewed sense of belonging.

Meanwhile, Billie struggles to adjust to her new school. Shy and withdrawn, she spends much of her time drawing, lost in a private world of dark scribbles and Frida Kahlo, keeping to herself until she befriends Hux. Charismatic and self-assured, Hux encourages Billie to step out of her shell and begin engaging more confidently with the world around her.

Mental Well-being

The co-creators were inspired to explore the anxieties that young people have about living and growing in the world: sustainability, the cost of living, political and social unrest, and uncertainties about the future all play a part in Billie’s fears and anxieties. These are presented through a variety of physical symptoms such as sleep paralysis. Maxine’s need to keep moving is a strategy she has employed to avoid having to face and deal with her own past traumas.  

In Mama Does Derby, mental health is not portrayed as something that can be ‘fixed’. Instead, mental health is presented as something that is an integral part of the characters, and which makes them who they are; that by acknowledging, naming and accepting their anxieties, they are able to live, survive and thrive. 

Resilience: Falling and Rising

Threaded through the play is the roller derby metaphor: stacking it, getting up, and doing it again with support. This physical language mirrors the emotional journeys of both characters. Derby reframes failure as part of growth. It shows that resilience is learned collectively — through community, repetition, and the willingness to be caught when you fall. 

Isolation, Belonging and the Importance of Community

Billie and Maxine arrive in a new town isolated in different ways – Billie through anxiety, Maxine through a lifetime of restlessness. Billie is desperate for security and stability. Billie’s friendship with Hux gives her a quiet space to be seen without pressure or performance; Hux’s confidence in their identity is an invitation for Billie to let her guard down and find authentic connections. Meanwhile, Maxine finds a vibrant, energetic community through the roller derby team. Derby culture is known for being more than a sport – it’s a movement and a community, encouraging players to be brave, gutsy, resilient and stronger because of what they bring to and gain from their team. Both characters learn that belonging is not created through intensity or dependence, but through trust, honesty, and shared experiences.

Clare Watson

Director, Co-creator

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.  

Virginia Gay

Writer, Co-creator

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. 

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 and more.

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. 

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.

Lucy Birkinshaw

Lighting Designer

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 and more.

Joe Paradise Lui

Music Director, Performer

Joe Paradise Lui is a submerging artist who puts the mid in mid-career. Joe is the winner of the 2013 Spirit of the Fringe award. It has won no awards since. Joe creates experimental theatre and performance works as Renegade Productions. Joe was the artist in residence at the Malthouse Theatre for 2023/2024. 

Luke Smiles

Sound Designer

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. In 2013 he received a Helpmann Award nomination for Best Sound Design of Windmill’s School Dance. 

Ivy Miller

Story Consultant

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) and more.

Maddy 'BB Gun' Wilkinson

Skate Consultant, Performer

Maddy (AKA BB Gun) has been a derby player 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 came full circle and joined Adelaide Roller Derby in 2023 and now skates with The Wild Hearses. Maddy skates as BB Gun, her own little homage to the late, great legend and friend Bessy.

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.  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.

Amber McMahon

Actor (Mama)

Amber trained at Flinders University Drama Centre and received the Adele Koh scholarship from the Stella Adler Company and SITI Company in New York. Theatre credits include Girl Asleep, School Dance (Windmill), Orlando, Master & Margarita, Stop Girl, Dance Nation, Bliss, Atlantis, Twelfth Night and more.

Elvy-Lee Quici

Actor (Billie)

Elvy-Lee Quici (She/Her) is an Italian-Vietnamese, Australian actor, performer, writer and maker based in Adelaide-Melbourne. 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 more.

Antoine Jelk

Musician (Drums) and Actor (Neil)

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. 

Annabel Matheson

Actor (Drew and Therapist Agatha)

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, ActNow Theatre and more.

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.  

Aud Mason-Hyde

Actor (Hux)

Aud Mason-Hyde 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 co- founded 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.  

Benjamin Hancock

Actor (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. In 2024, Bendy Ben was crowned Mx Burlesque Victoria. 

Dylan Miller

Actor (Dave)

A graduate of Adelaide College of the Arts, Dylan has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia, Windmill 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.

Calliope Jackson

Musician (Bass)

Calliope Jackson is a bass player in show, whom Co-creator, Clare Watson met on a dance floor. Calliope is also in a band called Mortal Ambition.

Billie

Daughter (Billie). Almost sixteen, creative, responsible and riddled with anxiety. Loves Frida Kahlo. She’s worried about the future, about Mum. She’s overwhelmed by the chaos around her. At home, across the world… the climate, the conflict, the expectations. She knows these thoughts are too big for her age. She just wants to be still. Mum is her best friend. 

Mama

Maxine. Single Mum. Total ratbag. Outrunning her fears, her troubles, she’s always moving, always up for an adventure. She’s filled with joyful, chaotic, teen-like energy. She’s a serial hobbyist, someone who dives passionately into projects but rarely sticks around to finish them. Billie is her best friend. 

Hux

Billie’s new friend – the alternative kid at school. Progressive and unapologetically themselves. It feels like they’ve kind of cracked the code on having a good time. Always on a skateboard or BMX, skidding through life with confidence and just enough edge to make it look effortless… to Billie anyway. 

Drew 'The Wombat'

Maxine’s first friend in the derby team. Wild, fearless. Drew won’t let a torn tendon keep her from being part of the action. Big-hearted and brutally honest, she’s the kind of friend Mum needs right now. She embodies derby: loud, physical and competitive, but also ready to back her teammates on and off the track.  

Therapist Agatha

A middle-of-the-road, small-town therapist. A bit mediocre, but well-meaning and ultimately gives helpful advice to Billie and Mum. Genuinely cares. 

Neil

The next-door neighbour of unplaceable origin and relentless gloom. Also Billie’s driving instructor. They’ve got some stories that’s for sure – whether we want to hear them or not is another question.  

Nathan

Billie’s nightmares come to life. A sleep paralysis demon. Flexible is an understatement. Terrifying, intrusive, conspiratorial and deeply unsettling. Deep (deep) down they are there to keep Billie safe, whether she wants them to or not.  

Dave

Mum’s latest boyfriend. Painfully beige both in personality and attire. Still waters run deep with Dave. Billie doesn’t trust him at first.