Mama Does Derby, Windmill Production Company in association with Sydney Festival and Adelaide Festival, Sydney Town Hall, 15-22 Jan

Combining spectacle and personal narrative, "Mama Does Derby" tells the story of a mother and daughter who've been each other's mutual support system for a number of years, moving to a small town to restart their lives yet again, and what happens when... well, the title happens. Theatre on roller skates is not entirely unknown ("Starlight Express" gets a shoutout in the script, and there's always "Xanadu" too) but this is a show that uses the roller skates as support to the mother-daughter story. There's a lot of elements playing in here (a sparkly-clad trauma demon in high heels, some driving lessons for the daughter, an emerging friendship, some counelling sessions plus the roller derby and a three-piece band playing support and occaisonal supporting roles) but Virginia Gay's script keeps it all in balance with a nice dry wit, and Claire Watson serves the script well with a clever aesthetic, using the derby-team as stage crew rolling set pieces on and off.

I will pause and say that, as a non-traditional theatre venue, Sydney Town Hall has to use temporary seating, and in my long experience of sitting on temporary seating, what they have this time was somehow the most massively uncomfortable thing I've ever sat on - I felt the seat distinctly sagging under my weight (which, yes, I'm a husky guy, but still, this is public seating, if they're going to do stuff below a certain grade they should warn people). The show is 90 minutes long and I was repositioning myself at every scene transition to try to find a comfortable position - never finding one. However I was still enjoying the show despite the horrendous seating, and this is more a note for the venue than the production.

Back to the show. Gay's writers note captures some of the vibe: "We wanted to talk about the anxieties that Clare Watson & Virginia Gay 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". It's a very well done piece of work even if on post-show analysis it does feel like some elements are pushing in different directions - the script emphasises the daughter and the meat of the play is dealing with her trauma, but the roller derby aesthetics all belong to the mother, and Amber McMahon is a powerful force in the role of Maxine as she has been in Sydney theatre for quite a while. Elvy-Lee Quici as the daughter holds her role solidly and is a convincing protagonist, holding the show together. Aud Mason-Hyde as friend/teasing partner Hux is great at delivering Gay's driest quips. Benjamin Hancock as trauma-demon Nathan has spectacular physicality, slithering around the stage in the highest of high heels. The athletes of Inner West Roller Derby League do a great job both as performers and as stage crew moving setpieces around the stage in perfect physical co-ordination, and the three-piece band led by Joe Lui are tight, rocking and underscore the show well. It's a lush, enjoyable spectacle that will leave you with a grin on your face. 

Dear Son, Belvoir St Theatre, Queensland Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia, co-presented with Sydney Festival, Belvoir St Upstairs Theatre, 8-26 Jan

 Image by Stephen Wilson Barker

Isaac Drandic and John Harvey's adaptation of Thomas Mayo's collection of letters from indigenous men to their fathers and sons explores deeply personal narratives of joy, sorrow, connections gained and lost, and it's an example of positive masculinity at its finest. A simple setup - an outdoor recreation shelter with BBQ and firepit, is the site where 5 men gather to tell various stories taken from Mayo's book of letters written in response to a racist cartoon in a News Corporation paper about Aboriginal men not knowing the names of their children. It's a case of the response vastly overwhelming the cause in both power and breadth, as the five actors (Jimi Bani, Waangenga Blanco, Kirk Page, Aaron Pedersen and Tibian Wiles) bring us into their stories, with sound, movement and with powerful projections (video designed by Craig Wilkinson, AV realised by Susie Henderson). Drandic directs with a hand that lets the actors take ownership of other people's stories, both solo and shared across the group - with the finale letting the five men talk in their own persona of their family connections. It's an emotional journey, and a show both exposing, emotional and ultimately heart-holding as it gives us a chance to see how tough family relationships can still hold together even in the roughest of circumstances. 

The 2025 "Well I Liked It" awards

 Tis the time of year when I give out Canberra's 4th most relevant theatre awards, the WILIs. It's a long-standing tradition, surprisingly robust, and a standout in its field due to being completely guided by one guy's whimsy. And let's face it, it's more fun to just read the results rather than have to go to some awards ceremony where you have to look at all your competitors when you'd much rather be watching or making theatre.

"Garry Starr: Classic Penguins" was probably pre-ordained to win a WILI - not only did I pretty much mention how much I was looking forward to it when I gave a WILI to his last two shows in 2023, it also won most Outstanding show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Still, it largely seems to have passed a lot of locals un-noticed (probably due to performing in Queanbeyan at the same time as a local Awards Ceremony) but if you picked going to anything else over seeing this, you missed out. Hugely. Yes, I was a little worried going in that Starr's schtick of audience participation, goofy jokes about elevated topics and extreme physical ridiculousness maybe wasn't worth a third hour of stagetime, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong, and I'm very glad to be so. 

Joel Horwood directed a one-two punch of shows I really liked - "The Moors" at the Mill was a tense, surreal, ridiculously charming act of faux-Bronte sisters with hidden passions and natural and unnatural desires all over the place, with standout performances from Steph Roberts, Andrea Close among the cast. "Sweet Charity" at the Q is a musical which I admit I went into expecting good songs and a messy script from previous encounters, but with a lead performance like Amy Orman and a clever, abstract-but-personable staging, it became a warm, funny, stylish delight. Horwood's departure is Canberra's loss but hopefully the theatre world's gain as they explore pastures new.

Fortunately, Canberra still has Jarrad West, this year showing off his talents both as performer and director - anchoring the Hub's "Present Laughter" with a performance that allowed him to play circus ringmaster to a supporting cast that lifted to his level, then directing and appearing in scene-stealing delightfulness in "Musical of musicals The Musical" and directing a remounting of "Hand To God" that had the same level of delight as the original. I would never want to take West for granted, and hopefully 2026 gives us more opportunities to not do that.

A great interstate production was "Posh" at the Old Fitz - an intimate, brutal production of a play with a strong cast of 10 men looking at the English Class system at its absolute worst. Margaret Thanos directed with a firm hand - I didn't get a chance to see the other show that created a sensation in Sydney, her version of "Timon of Athens", retitled "I hate People" but on the basis of this I'm looking forward to seeing both her big Belvoir and STC directing debuts next year with "A Mirror" at Belvoir and "The River" at STC. 

A couple of bonus mentions - I had a great time with four different musicals - the Warumpi Band tribute musical "Bit Name No Blankets", the Hayes' "Phar-Lap the Electro-Swing Musical", the melbourne production of "Beetlejuice" and the MTC's "Kimberly Akimbo", which delivered up various chunks of music, heart and ridiculousness with a certain amoutn of epicness. It was great to have solo excellence from Christopher Samuel Caroll in "The Cadaver Palaver" giving adventure and a solo performance of power and charm. 

Hand To God, Everyman Theatre, ACT Hub, 10-20 December

 

Photo: Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore

Three years after the previous production and the different Old Fitz production, Tyrone the puppet and his victim/handler Jason are back for an exploration of trauma, religion, lust and felt in a play with something to offend pretty much anyone. With either 4/5 or 4/6s (depending on whether you count Tyrone and Jason as separate people) of the cast all new, it's a refreshed production where the desperation and trauma are close to the surface in ways that push the comedy further. Michael Cooper's performance is still just as grounding between the shy, retiring Jason and the confident, agressive Tyrone (and just as committed in ways that I hope aren't permanently physically damaging), and it's joined by Amy Kowalczuk embracing the chance to let all her crazy hang out as his mother, Meaghan Stewart being grounded, warm and, when required, just as deeply nuts as his friend Jessica, William "Wally" Allington showing the blossoming of teen rebel Timmy as he gets all kinds of wrong attention, and Lachlan Ruffy being all the right kinds of deeply wrong as the not-very-successsfully-hiding-his-attentions Pastor Greg. 

Jarrad West restages the work with his usual precision, care and willingness to let any joke no matter how obscure hit the target. Nathan Sciberras' lighting design lets the moods shift as the show tips deeper into insanity and Nikki Fitzgerald's sound design gets us in the mood of a small-town puppet ministry and lets the demons flow out when they get loose. Special congrats to Lucy van Dooren and her crew for setting and resetting a chaotic set nightly. It's a hysterical evening in the hub and absolutely worth the visit. 

Bob Downe - 40 Ridiculous Years, Hot TKT, The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, 7 December

A performer 40 years into their career usually has some reliably solid schtick and a  way to keep that entertaining the market. Certainly Bob Downe, he of the supreme dagginess in song, dance, hairstyle and dress-sense, has a timeless way of attacking multiple retro hits, this time largely from the year of his "birth" (1985ish), with various talks about his way of engaging in the wider world, whether it be through young people, apps, or through acquiring a younger sidekick to emulate his unique singing and dancing styles. It's a fun 80 minutes down memory lane with Bob - who's slightly evolved these days, partially due to the guy behind Bob, Mark Trevorrow, having a very active career as himself, presenting publicly at Mardi Gras and on varous ABC projects, the gags about Bob being not-very-successfully-closeted have largely disappeared into the background (though there is a video appearance by his long-term fiance, Coralee Hollow (Gina Riley)). There's choreography, there's his trademark teeth-forward, crazy-eyed vowels-only-song stylings, and there's a fabulous costume change for the encore, plus a plug for the merch-stand during the show. What more could you possibly want? 

Low Pay? Don't Pay, Canberra Repertory, Canberra Rep Theatre, 20 Nov-6 Dec

 

Dario Fo won the 1997 Nobel Prize for literature but I have to assume he's lost something in translation or in distance from the time he wrote his plays originally, as I've never really loved his mixes of loose comedy and political polemic - the attitudes within his plays are things I should like, looking at the nuances of the relationship between the state, capital and labour in the late 20th century through a comedic lense, but the polemic side tends to come on with all the subtlety of a brick and the comedy ain't exactly subtle either. This production isn't one that changes my mind on translated Fo - while it has some amusing moments and some decent imagery, it also stretched the dial at around 2hrs 45 minutes for something that should float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, it too often lumbers like an elephant instead.

If there's a reason to see this, it's to see Lachlan Abrahams as Joe, who plays this for all the ludicrousness it's worth. He's playing big but the material needs that bigness - this isn't realism and isn't served by realistic acting. Too often the performances around him feel small and timid - Abrahmas goes in hard both in the over the top comedy and the strong political polemics that the play contains, giving both genuine conviction. The performances around him don't always carry that level of weight - there's a nervousness about committing to the bit which holds this back from being as strong as it could be. 

I will say there were a reasonable number of chuckles at my performance and I'm probably a minority view (and, again, that Nobel Prize) - but for me this isn't quite the end-of-year delight I was hoping for. 

Back to the Future the Musical, John Frost for Crossroads live and Colin Ingram Inc, Sydney Lyric Theatre, til 25 Jan 2026

 

I don't want to kick a show when it's down - this is a show which has already announced an earlier-than-planned closing in January - but really, this is a case of a production that was ill-concieved from the start and only got a few minor improvements on the way through development. The "Popular Movie: The Musical" approach isn't always a disaster - a stage version can find new angles, pep up the action with some fun tunes, and bring an old property into new life - but in this case, it's mostly resulted in a story you can buy on DVD for $16 or stream on a range of streaming services being interrupted by songs that are at best servicable and at worst actively annoying. I will admit that after a long night of Shakespearean tragedy, I was as eager to watch something with a flying car, and the moment when the car flies is kind of cool, but it's a lot of show to sit through for a cool curtain call moment.

I do kinda get why it's a musical - the original film has two highlight music moments ("Johnny B. Goode" and "The Power of Love") and these are dutifuly recreated here. But most of  the remaining original songs fail to really be anything more than time-killers. Most of the performers are stuck reiterating performance decisions made when the original movie was made - Axel Duffy, Ethan Jones and Thomas McGuane may be talented actors but they're mostly stuck doing line readings originally created by Michael J Fox, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson around forty years ago. Roger Bart at least gives Doc Brown a little of his own yiddish vaudeville energy (and lends a powerful voice to songs that absolutely don't deserve it like "It Works" and "This One's For the Dreamers", both of which pretty much say everything they're going to say by the time their title has been sung). Ashleign Rubenach does benefit from a role that doesn't have performance gimmicks locked in so she can play her own bat and is delightful in all scenes.

Director John Rando does come up with some clever ideas for how to tell the story in a medium that doesn't really allow close-ups and goes all-out in the climactic race-against-lightning finale, but everyone is battling against material that really isn't good enough and wouldn't have hit the stage if it wasn't for the original movie being so beloved. Even on discount, this is really only worth it if you want to tick Roger Bart off your bucket list of performers or if you really want to see a flying car and missed "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".