Virginia Gay on Mama Does Derby: 'I am accident prone in the extreme'
It’s time to get your skates on as Mama Does Derby is unleashed at Adelaide Festival. Lisa Woolford straps in for the ride as co-creators Clare Watson and Virginia Gay give her the lowdown on this rollicking mother-daughter tale
After a decade in development, Mama Does Derby doesn’t skate around emotional issues, intricately weaving the intimate conversations at its core with comedy, a touch of horror and the thrill of high-octane sport.
Loosely based on Windmill artistic director Clare Watson’s experience of being a single mum to her daughter Ivy, it’s also inspired by her favourite sport: roller derby. Although Watson laughs and adds that, while she’s had quite the life, the pair did not, unlike their fictional counterparts, live on a Tibetan mountain and drink yak milk. That extra sauce was added by ‘total polymath’ actor, singer, writer and close friend Virginia Gay, who has known the pair since Ivy was little. As frequent collaborators (including on Cyrano which won a slew of awards at the Edinburgh Fringe), Watson trusted Gay both as an artist and with sharing their personal story.
Gay relished writing this love letter to the ‘twisty-turny excellence and agonies’ of mother-daughter relationships. ‘I've taken the energetic vibe between [Clare and Ivy] and then pulled out threads,’ she says. ‘I was like “oh, I see that Ivy is the one who is quiet and paying the bills and getting them to places on time while Clare’s this beautiful, wild, energetic, creative force”. We don't see enough of that dynamic: really cool moms in their 40s who have raised awesome kids.’
The show sits somewhere between theatre, sport and a rock concert, a huge production set on a circular roller derby track with moving set pieces, designed by Jonathan Oxlade. There’s Adelaide Roller Derby League athletes, a live punk band and a cast which includes Amber McMahon, as mum Maxine, and Elvy-Lee Quici who plays 16-year-old Billie.
‘I love live theatre so much, so we wanted to make sure if we could get people to live theatre that we're going to have the thrill of live music,’ Gay says. ‘We're going to have the thrill of jokes and we are going to have the thrill of being at a sports game.’
In the 90-minute production, Billie has just moved to a regional town where she and her mum have to make their own fun. It’s always been just the two of them and now they’ve settled somewhere, Billie feels like she can finally put down some roots. Only she’s at that age where she feels like she must decide who she wants to be, and the pressure is weighing on her.
Speaking with teenagers, including Ivy and her partner, Gay discovered a generation very much feeling the pressure. ‘Not “let’s rebel! Let’s go out!” It was almost like they had no optimism: “what are we going to do with this burning planet that you’ve left us? And are we expected to fix it? Is that our job?”,’ she explains.
Speaking of burning planets, it’s a fiercely hot summer’s day as we chat over Zoom. Both Gay and Watson are grateful for the air conditioning at SA Film Corporation’s Adelaide Studios where rehearsals are underway. They’re both eager to experience audience reactions to their show, which will premiere at Sydney Festival, before heading to Adelaide and then on to Brisbane.
Watson hopes audiences will walk out of Adelaide Entertainment Centre not only entertained but recognising the strength in community. ‘The fundamental theme is about community and connectedness to other people and recognising that if you're having struggles, or even if you're having great joys, that connecting with other people, sharing your worries, leaning on community, is actually beneficial for all.’
She also hopes crowds will fall for roller derby. She’s signed up to repeat the beginners’ training course that her single-parent life kept her from completing a decade ago, worried about the high likelihood of injury. Now, she’s eyeing the possibility of joining the appropriately named ‘zebra team’ as a referee.
Gay, meanwhile, is adamant she will not be donning skates anytime soon, despite clearly being enamoured with the sport’s inclusivity, queerness, feminism and grassroots energy. ‘I am accident prone in the extreme, covered in bruises when I'm just standing up, wearing flats,’ she exclaims. ‘I must never put on skates. I will crack my skull.’
Mama Does Derby, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, 27 February–8 March, times vary; main picture: Claudio Raschella.