Little Lark of London

“Bruce is dead.”

If you grew up terrified of sharks because of Steven Spielberg’s thriller film Jaws, you may have to close your eyes for the first few minutes of this play as the infamous theme composed by John Williams begins to play. But, have no fear – as we quickly find out, there is no chance of a shark attack in this theatre. The shark is, as you may have guessed from the play’s title, broken. Written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, The Shark Is Broken brings audiences onto the set of the iconic Jaws movie, where its three leads – Robert Shaw (Ian Shaw), Roy Scheider (Dan Fredenburgh)  and Richard Dreyfuss (Ashely Margolis) – sit on the Orca boat, waiting for filming to finally end. 

For those unfamiliar with the filming of the 1975 hit, the crew was plagued with issues when it came to the true star of the show, the infamous shark that terrorises the shores of Amity Island. In reality, the team was filming at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts for several months, with Spielberg determined to shoot the movie on the open water instead of in a tank like most movies would have been – Jaws was actually the first major film to be shot on open water, so no precedent had been set for the young director and his cast and crew. As the end of filming looms near, tensions begin to rise on the Orca between the three actors.

Don’t know who Quint is? The sinking of the USS Indianapolis doesn’t ring a bell? Have no fear – even those who have never seen Jaws will be able to follow along with the play, as most of it focuses on Shaw, Scheider and Dreyfuss themselves. Shaw plays his father as an aggressive man with a dependence on alcohol whose mood swings like the tide, sometimes happily playing games like Shove Ha’penny and other times threatening Dreyfuss with a knife. On the other hand, you have Margolis playing Richard Dreyfuss, a young actor desparate for his big break who manages to step on all of Shaw’s toes in the process, leading to some pretty nasty verbal sparring between the two. Fredenburgh takes on the role of the mediator as Scheider, trying to find the best in t he situations and ensure that no one gets thrown overboard. 

While there are arguments between the three actors over who is the star of Jaws, it is clear that Ian Shaw is the star of The Shark Is Broken. It is almost eerie to watch Shaw play his father, with hair and makeup that make him look just like Robert Shaw did in the 1970s. Much of the play focuses on Robert Shaw’s alcoholism and his own relationship with his father, who committed suicide when Robert was twelve. Unfortunately, Robert Shaw passed away at the age of 51 when Ian was eight years old, and having that prior knowledge makes some of Shaw’s monologues about fatherhood even more heartbreaking. When reading the show’s programme, one discovers that the inspiration from this show actually came from Ian discovering his father’s drinking diary from when they were filming. 

An unexpected highlight for me? Scheider’s passionate monologue about how the animatronic sharks are supposed to work. Note that there’s a plural number of sharks – that’s because there were actually three “Bruce” sharks, each having problems that delayed filming. As someone with a passion for animatronics and their impact on the world of entertainment (my thesis was on the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln attraction from the 1964 World’s Fair), I loved hearing about this bit of mechanical history. There is also tribute paid to the creator of Bruce, Bob Mattey, who also made the giant squid for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

There were a few too many references to the future that felt like fourth-wall breaks for my taste, but they were fun and the majority of the audience appeared to enjoy them. It is interesting to see how most assumed that the film would be a flop, comparing it to other films they believed would never last, though the audience knows that many of them became classics. I, for one, would love to see a piece of theatre that doesn’t have a reference to the current state of American politics, but luckily there’s only only one throwaway joke about Nixon being the most corrupt president of all time. 

Ultimately, The Shark Is Broken is a loving tribute to an iconic movie that, at its heart, takes a heartbreaking look at what it means to be human and the struggles one faces along the way. Shaw allows his father’s spirit to live on by playing him, expressing true vulnerability on losing a loved one. There may not be a shark insight, but The Shark Is Broken still has plenty of bite. 

The Shark Is Broken runs from 17 to 22 February at Richmond Theatre and continues to tour the UK and Ireland, stopping in Nottingham, Bath, Canterbury, Newcastle, Guildford, Plymouth, Brighton, Cheltenham, Poole, Birmingham and Dublin. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.