Martha’s Vineyard, 1974: shooting on ‘Jaws’ has stalled. The film’s lead actors – Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss – are stuck on a boat, at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical co-star. Awash with alcohol and ambition, three hammered sharks start to bare their teeth…Directed by Guy Masterson, THE SHARK IS BROKEN reveals the hilarious behind-the-scenes drama on one of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.
Slender though it may be, at a crisp 95 minutes it holds one’s attention in no small part because the actors playing their more famous counterparts are so superb, giving performances that perfectly capture the personas, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies of Shaw, Dreyfuss and Scheider, at least as documented in various books and movies about the making of “Jaws.” Yet none of the actors is indulging in mere comic mimicry. All give fully rounded, nuanced performances that give the play a layer of verisimilitude in its more serious moments, as the movie actors—each at a different stage in his career—turn to self-examination and reveal their doubts and demons.
“Do you really think people are going to be talking about this in fifty years?” he adds a moment later, showing his crystal ball is just as faulty as it is functioning. The final shot soon-to-be-completed, the men know giddily that freedom will soon be theirs. But what they don’t know is that Jaws will go on to become the cultural totem we know it as today—and it is in the humorous and profound gap of past and present, known and unknown, and ignorance and wisdom that The Shark Is Broken wittily excels not just as a clever time capsule, but as an examination of male bonding and competitiveness, ego, frailty, fame, and film-making. Which is to say: you don’t miss the shark for one second.
2021 | West End |
West End |
2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Performer in a Play | Alex Brightman |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Joseph Nixon |
Videos