Maxine's work lives somewhere between folklore and the food court, poetry and pop culture, the profound and the gloriously ridiculous. It's populated by loveable oddballs, reluctant heroes, monstrous humans, and humane monsters. Whether she's writing about a failing dog food factory, teenage witches on the moors of a new housing estate, or the last three members of an imaginary mountaintop village facing extinction, Maxine delights in making the familiar strange and the strange feel strangely familiar.
 

Her plays are rich with heightened theatricality, playful language, and black humour, and are known for their landscapes that become characters – from fairy-tale forests and whispering tundra, to concrete cul-de-sacs and fluorescent community halls – she writes places where the cracks in suburbia are just wide enough for magic to creep through.

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Beneath the whimsy lies a deep curiosity about the messy corners of humanity: the stories we inherit, the masks we wear, the certainty we cling to, and the moments that unexpectedly crack us open. Rather than offering neat answers, Maxine's plays invite audiences to embrace uncertainty, laugh in uncomfortable places and leave the theatre seeing the world just a little differently.

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Over the past two decades, Maxine has built a body of work spanning more than thirty plays for adults, young people and families. Produced by companies including Queensland Theatre, La Boite Theatre, Australian Theatre for Young People, Terrapin Puppet Theatre and Playlab Theatre, her plays have been recognised with many of Australia's most significant honours for playwriting, including the Queensland Premier's Drama Award, the David Williamson Prize, an AWGIE Award, the Max Afford Playwriting Award and the Edward Albee New York Residency Scholarship

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When she's not writing, Maxine is usually helping someone else tell their story – as a dramaturg, mentor and teaching artist – or wondering what would happen if one impossible thing quietly wandered into an otherwise ordinary Tuesday.