The Shark Arm Case
Writer: Kyla Lee Ward
Director: Liviu Monsted
Venue: Justice and Police Museum
August 14-30, 2025
In collaboration with the Museums of History NSW, the Deadhouse theatrical group continues to dramatise famous criminal events from Sydney’s past. Their current offering is based on what is probably the most fascinating and perplexing case of all.
This murder mystery-style tale takes place in the 175-year-old Justice and Police Museum. Kyla Ward, in a red-and-white carnival-style costume, acts as a lively guide and narrator as she leads the audience from room to room in an immersive theatrical experience.
The play opens with Gladys Smith (Madison Chippendale), wife of James “Jimmy” Smith (Steve Maresca), expressing anxiety about the long absence of her husband, who left on 7 April 1935, ostensibly on a fishing trip. He has been away for an inexplicable three weeks.
Soon after, on April 25, Anzac Day, visitors to the Coogee Aquarium are horrified when a recently caught tiger shark regurgitates a human arm. A distinctive tattoo of two boxers enables Jimmy’s brother to make a positive identification. It also reveals that the arm was severed by a knife, not a bite, thus leading to a murder investigation.
Enter Detective Sergeant Frank Matthews (Mark Stokes), who has a reputation for cracking the toughest cases. He is known to be incorruptible, though his methods sometimes cut corners. The subsequent investigation reveals a dense web of criminality, ranging from smuggling, insurance fraud, forgery, blackmail and yes, to murder.
Smith, a small-time criminal, has assisted the owners of a boat-building company, Reginald Holmes (Barret Griffin) and Albert Stannard (Steve Maresca), with an insurance claim against the loss of an over-insured leisure vessel, the Pathfinder. He has also become a police informant, an activity which ultimately seals his fate. Smith attempts to blackmail Holmes but vanishes after an evening of drinking with Patrick Brady (Jamie Sturgess), an ex-serviceman and convicted forger.
Fearing implication, Holmes decides to cooperate with police and reveals that Brady murdered Smith and disposed of his body at sea. He also reveals Brady has threatened to kill him if he did not pay a large sum of money. On the day Holmes is to give evidence at Smith’s inquest he is found dead in his car with three bullet wounds.
Although a massive naval and air search is carried out in the local bays, no body is recovered. Matthews nevertheless charges Brady with the murder.
The lack of Smith’s body poses a unique problem for the prosecution in attempting to convict Brady. At the inquest, the lawyer defending Brady, Clive Evatt (Griffin) claims there is not enough evidence for a conviction since, he argues, an arm “[does] not constitute a body”, and that Smith, minus his arm, could still be alive.
The production design succeeds in creating an authentic sense of the era. Lew McDonnell’s choice of props, for instance, tablecloths, carpets, cups and saucers evoke the look of the period, as does Marisa Newnes’s costuming, especially of the wives who wear the attractive floral dresses of the time. The ensemble cast do a fine job of presenting their characters, in some cases doubling up in roles that are completely opposite to each other.
The Shark Arm Case is still considered unsolved – such is the fascination with this historical cold case, that even in recent times writers continue to postulate new theories about these events. Deadhouse’s production certainly delivers a riveting piece of drama, ably presented by a very talented cast.
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