Welcome to the Etties 2025: the awards that care about the shows everyone else misses. We’ve worked with our reviewers to curate a list of gems that prove size isn’t everything. This isn’t a popularity contest; it’s a celebration of the art.
Who says the best theatre is just for grown-ups? At Everything Theatre, we believe that creating art for young minds is one of the most vital, and challenging, jobs in the industry. Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) isn’t just about entertainment; it’s about sparking imagination, fostering empathy, and building the next generation of culture-seekers.
This year’s nominees represent the sheer diversity of the genre. We’ve seen everything from high-energy adaptations of beloved picture books to innovative new stories that tackle complex emotions with grace and whimsy. These six finalists prove that whether a show uses puppets, song, or interactive play, the magic of TYA lies in its ability to speak to children and adults alike.
You can read more about The Etties here. Details of how the winners are to be announced will be shared soon.
Dweeb-a-Mania @ Polka Theatre
Dweeb-a-Mania completely reinvents the small Adventure Theatre at Polka, immersing the audience in the sights and sounds of a wrestling ring. This is a tale of reinvention, self-belief, friendship, teamwork and acceptance, set at that most difficult of times, the pre-teen move to secondary school. And it presents it all effortlessly: there’s no preaching, no levering in worthy stories, just outstanding storytelling, beautifully staged and performed by an exceptional cast. Dazzlingly entertaining, this show is a superb piece of child-centred theatre that empowers young people to smash gender definitions, to collaborate and to achieve on their own terms.
The Vanishing Forest @ Polka Theatre
While the rest of the world is making fart shows for children, Polka boldly programmes English Touring Opera, offering them instead the glory of opera. The Vanishing Forest is a bewitching, beautifully crafted piece of work, aimed at ages 7-12 years, where magic meets eco-crisis in an exhilaratingly enjoyable entertainment. This show not only brings the visceral thrill of live vocal performance but sets it against a carefully tailored storyline that is totally child-centred, and importantly it simultaneously smashes ideas of opera being exclusive or elitist. The whole is never patronising, simply and generously offering enormous talent, inspiring entertainment and fresh opportunity to young people.
Hopeful Monsters @ Well Walk Theatre
If ever a show captured the magic of theatre, Hopeful Monsters is the one. In an exquisitely intoxicating performance, a trio of puppeteers use mainly hands and a scattering of small props to reimagine and celebrate the natural world. A series of extraordinary vignettes invites the audience to wonder at it, to interact, and perhaps consider a different relationship with it.
There’s delightful comedy, breathtaking beauty, fabulous original music; and the innovative use of hand puppetry, which in essence costs nothing, and yet is universally understood. All of life is here, in an astonishing capsule containing everything we need to survive: imagination, growth, collaboration, joy, amazement and, above all, new possibility. This show is high art for children and adults alike. It’s impressively empowering and inclusive, telling how humans and nature can make beauty together.
The Snow Queen – A Woodland Adventure @ The Albany
Let’s face it, The Snow Queen is usually a pretty miserable tale. It focusses on sadness, abandonment, mental health issues and of course the cold, which often overpowers the adventure bit. In this considered adaptation, however, the classic story is given a much cosier feel that works brilliantly, putting the young person’s experience at its heart and making it wholly inviting. The roles are redefined as animal characters which softens the story and celebrates the fantasy elements. The snow becomes sparkling and magical rather than bitter, there is exceptional music, lovely puppets and a smart script that works at just the right pace for a young audience. The production enhances themes of friendship with audience participation, making it family friendly, and it is ultimately a hugely successful adaptation of a problematic piece.
The Washing Line @ Chickenshed
When you think of Chickenshed you don’t immediately imagine emotive political, historic work: they’re just a company doing nice pantos with disabled kids, right? The Washing Line turns this preconception upside down, examining the Jonestown Massacre, which at its core is a story of the exploitation and violation of vulnerable people.
A team of professional creatives work with and alongside a cast of 200 young people in a hugely impressive performance that features tightly choreographed dance and song, delivered in a highly potent manner. In addition to showcasing the talent and possibility of disabled young participants, the show juxtaposes their agency with this devastating moment in history to underscore the company’s positivity, which is the antithesis to the cult.
The show was a revival in 2025, returning at a timely moment when Trump’s administration threatens the wellbeing of many with disabilities.
The Three Bears @ Half Moon Theatre
This is a bold, generous and subversively odd piece of family theatre offering a queer, playful remix of the Goldilocks story. Through a clever retelling, it celebrates the messy truth that “just right” doesn’t always look the way tradition tells us it should. Families in 21st-century Britain are often very different to expectations and the inventive physical comedy, tender chaos and theatrical flair from Full House Theatre and Daryl & Co play that narrative and world picture so very well.
