I’ve been intrigued by the play The Shark is Broken since I first heard about it, and was very keen to see it when it embarked on a UK tour. The show is set aboard the boat during the filming of the mega blockbuster Jaws, featuring as the only characters in the play, the three actors who star in the movie. They have plenty of time to spare as the mechanical shark, known as Bruce, keeps breaking down. The play spends time with these three as they get to know each other, argue and make up, in these many hours spent trapped aboard.

The play is about 90 minutes long with no interval, so runs straight through in the same way a movie would. It’s told generally chronologically, but dips in and out of the scenes, as the actors start getting really frustrated with each other, and Robert Shaw’s drinking problem begins to impact on the day job.

It’s a really moving piece of theatre, this one. The actor playing Robert Shaw is his son Ian, which adds an extra dimension to it. Ian also wrote the play after extensive research within and outside of his family. He didn’t necessarily know his father very well, as he died early in his childhood, but moments such as when Shaw the character is asked if he wants his children to be actors resonate just that bit more than they would have otherwise.

I don’t think I was fully aware of what a difficult time everyone had making this film. That the three main actors didn’t necessarily get on, that there were so many rewrites, that Shaw’s drinking had such a big impact. It made me feel sad that such great cultural phenomena can come out of such difficult times. Very quickly after seeing the play, I watched the movie again, and it hit differently knowing some of the behind the scenes stories.

The acting in The Shark is Broken is great, the three really embody their characters well without becoming pastiches of who they are supposed to be playing. The vulnerability comes across, particularly with the Richard Dreyfuss character who is still building his confidence in a difficult and judgemental profession. But of course it is Robert Shaw who steals the show, which ends with the incredible US Indianapolis speech in full, that takes your breath away. This was great storytelling, gently comedic in places, but mostly eye-opening and jaw-dropping, which is just what theatre should be.