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“The Shark Is Broken” (2022) is an enjoyable play chronicling the collision of egos between actors Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider during the troubled extended production of “JAWS”(1975); the Steven Spielberg blockbuster-crowdpleaser which inaugurated the summer blockbuster movie phenomenon.

The play, which premiered in the UK and Ireland before coming to Broadway, was cowritten by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw–the actor/playwright son of the “JAWS”-costar/playwright Robert Shaw (“The Man in the Glass Booth”).

Summing It Up

To those hoping to see a detailed chronicling of the movie’s production? “The Shark Is Broken” isn’t that story. For that, I’d recommend buying a copy of screenwriter/actor Carl Gottlieb’s “The JAWS Log,” or watch NatGeo’s “JAWS @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story.” Focusing on the actors rather than the minutiae of the movie’s production, the play crafts a fictionalized, fanciful and sometimes touching dramatization of the conflicts between the three lead actors (Robert, Richard & Roy) as they struggle with their personal demons.

There are several touring casts, and the cast I saw featured Dan Frendenburgh doing a credible Roy Scheider, Ashley Margolis capturing the freneticism of a young Richard Dreyfuss, and cowriter Ian Shaw channeling his late father to an uncanny degree. We occasionally hear offstage voices suggesting production assistants and even Spielberg himself, but the only characters we see onstage are the three lead actors.

There’s much spilt tea regarding the late Robert Shaw’s alcoholism as well as Richard Dreyfuss’ own drug addiction–neither of which should be secrets to hardcore “JAWS” fans. The play also spotlights the highly competitive Shaw’s on-set bullying of up-and-comer Dreyfuss, whose neuroses and lack of physical fitness disgust the older Shakespearean actor. As their competitiveness grows, Shaw challenges the younger Dreyfuss to do five pushups, while Dreyfuss tosses one of Shaw’s hidden liquor bottles overboard, prompting an angered Shaw to nearly throttle the younger man to death.

By contrast, we see Scheider–much like his ‘Chief Brody’ character–acting as referee and peacemaker during his costars’ intense rivalry. The Scheider character also acts as the closest thing the play has to a narrator, setting the tone for the 1974 shoot by discussing newspaper headlines of the day (the energy crisis, Watergate) and citing all kinds of fascinatingly irrelevant trivia to his more volatile costars. Scheider is portrayed as the calm center of a particularly stormy sea.

Despite their rivalry, the actors/characters bond through personal and painful moments from their own varied backgrounds. Each of these actors/characters get their own solo moments, too. These scenes offer balance and much-needed comradery to offset the infighting and insufferable egos. Theirs is a deeply complicated triad, as the actors’ real-life personae and working relationships closely parallel their onscreen counterparts of Brody, Hooper and Quint.

The minimalist staging of this play is centered entirely on a cross-section of the Orca stuck on an imaginary Atlantic. This Orca at sea setting is more of a metaphor for the actors’ isolation and restlessness during their long sequestration in New England, as their movie is fraught with endless technical glitches and other issues (hence the title). During one scene, the actors are forced to wait nearly an hour as a large boat slowly passes through the camera’s line-of-sight during filming (a non-issue today, as the obtrusive boat would be easily erased with digital FX).

Reaching out to modern audiences, the play also gives a few meta observations regarding the current state of movies and moviegoing, with the actors lamenting a future tidal wave of sequels, remakes of sequels and name-brand franchises, as movies seem doomed to become increasingly populist and infantilized. Shaw’s own film career (“The Taking of Pelham 123,” “Goldfinger”) leaves him longing for his days of performing Shakespeare and Harold Pinter before live audiences.

It’s no coincidence the Orca is chosen as the sole setting for the play. It’s the setting for what is arguably the most dramatically impactful scene of “JAWS”; Quint’s harrowing monologue of his World War 2 experience on the USS Indianapolis during its real-life sinking in a shark-infested region of the Pacific. We see a first pass of the scene, with Shaw unable to get through the clunky original monologue. Another pass is ruined by his own inebriation. This personal embarrassment of Shaw’s is redeemed in a triumphant scene later on, which ends the 90± minute play on a high note.

After three or so years of anticipation, seeing “The Shark Is Broken” on Boxing Day 2025 made a perfect capper to the year which celebrated a half-century of “JAWS.” For fans of “JAWS,” Ian Shaw’s play is a loving yet frank tribute to those actors who helped make “JAWS” work… even when its titular shark didn’t.

Where to Watch

While I wasn’t able to catch “The Shark Is Broken” in person (I live on the wrong coast), it recently premiered on Amazon Prime’s BroadwayHD; a subscription streaming service for streaming high-end plays and music events at home. Hope readers get a chance to enjoy it.