Review: BUT WHY, DAD at Circa Theatre

A school-holiday hack for parents with children of wildly different ages: find a show that can keep everyone entertained. Easier said than done when your children range from 5 to 13. My five-year-old and a thirteen-year-old do not, generally speaking, agree on much. But But Why, Dad?? Boy, did this hit the spot.

Created and performed by Tom Knowles and Jeff Parsnips, But Why, Dad? is a gloriously silly, fast-paced Kiwi comedy concert built around one of childhood’s most powerful weapons: the question “WHY?” The pair combine original songs, live music, comedy and plenty of audience interaction into a show that knows exactly who it is talking to.

These two dads know their audience. From the moment they start chatting directly with the kids, there’s an instant sense that the audience is part of the fun rather than simply watching from the sidelines. They put the kids at ease, invite them in and somehow manage to make a room full of small people feel very comfortable shouting things out at two grown men on stage. The result is engaging, warm and very funny. They reference that a child’s attention span is 42 minutes, but with a kid’s show this good, there is no need to worry. 

And there is something particularly wonderful about watching your own children laugh. Not polite little chuckles either, the proper, helpless, belly laughs that give you warm fuzzies, “Yep. This was worth getting out of the house for”.

Of course, the ultimate test of a children’s show is what happens afterwards. On the car ride home, my children had a plethora of their own questions: Why do kids ask so many questions? Why did they have big letters on stage? Why were they wearing high-vis? And so the questioning continued.

If you want to extend the experience beyond the theatre, you can pick up one of their CDs for the car ride home. And if you really want to make that journey extra spicy, buy one of the kazoos. I’m not saying you’ll regret it… but I’m also not saying you won’t.

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