Jaws: For Kids!

The show has all the makings of a perfect introduction to theatre: it’s bright, dynamic, and impeccably paced, with just enough chaos to keep the energy buoyant without descending into frenzy. The direction is imaginative and resourceful, allowing each scene to shift fluidly between parody, play, and educational ‘fun facts’ such as: more people are killed by cows each year than by sharks. Rather than talking down to its audience, Jaws: For Kids! trusts that children are savvy enough to follow the fun, and rewards them with songs, dances, and moments of discovery that feel genuinely earned.

Performers Ellie Hardisty and Natalie Bochenski are a delight to watch, radiating warmth and charisma from start to finish. Their rapport is electric — equal parts polished and spontaneous — and their comic timing ensures that every joke, whether aimed at tiny tots or nostalgic parents, lands with perfect buoyancy. Both demonstrate versatile performance skills: clear and characterful singing, physical comedy that’s never overplayed, and an instinct for audience connection that keeps everyone, even the shy ones, fully engaged. Their animated personas are pitched just right: energetic and silly, but grounded enough to avoid becoming cloying.

Behind the scenes, the technical team deserves equal applause. The lighting design cleverly enhances mood and tempo, while the sound design punctuates the action with just the right wink of suspense. The use of puppetry adds a tactile charm, though the large shark puppet, while effective in scale and concept, could benefit from a little more visual refinement to match the rest of the production’s standard. Still, it’s a miniscule ripple in what is otherwise a smooth and joyous swim.

The show’s greatest triumph is its tone. By reimagining Jaws as a playful, inclusive adventure rather than a cautionary tale of terror, Hardisty and Bochenski have created something rare: a work that entertains across generations without condescension or compromise. Children gleefully shout from their seats, parents chuckle at the cultural callbacks, and everyone leaves happy, entertained, and feeling just a little braver about dipping a toe in the water.

Jaws: For Kids! is everything a family theatre experience should be — funny, inventive, and completely unpretentious. It’s a wonderful celebration of imagination, proof that a well-crafted parody can both honour its source material and reinvent it with fresh purpose. Its final message isn’t that we need macho men to destroy the beastly killing machine that is the great white shark, it’s that we must understand these amazing creatures, respect their place in the ecosystem, and give them space to live in their home in peace… and also avoid cows at all costs!

Kitty Goodall

Photography by Geoff Lawrence.