Going in deep to the cabin fever of the Jaws set
Even a young Spielberg said it was nuts to make a film on the Atlantic Ocean and not in a tank on a film lot. He was right! Though his ambition and perseverance created what is generally considered the first blockbuster, it wasn’t easy. Special effects were physical and mechanical, rather than computer generated. Salt water and pneumatics don’t mix so the shark was regularly broken making it a long shoot. There was actually more than one shark.
Any Jaws fan will already know all this but have you thought about what the cast were doing during those long hours of down time? The Shark is Broken imagines the conversations between its three stars – veteran Robert Shaw and relative newcomers at the time Roy Schieder and Richard Dreyfuss.
What did they talk about as they waited on the Orca bobbing on the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard? What makes this incredible 90 minutes so interesting is that maybe there is some truth to the conversations we listen to. Robert Shaw (Quint in Jaws) is played by the plays co-writer and son of Robert, Ian Shaw. The resemblance, mannerisms and voice are uncanny.
With five and a half months of filming in difficult and confined conditions, things were bound to tense between the three leading men which Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixons script explores with humour and sensitivity.
Shaw was an acting - mostly theatre - veteran and keen writer with a large family and a drinking problem. Scheider has started to make his name in Hollywood and seemed the level head on the Ocra. Dreyfuss was a young up and coming star desperate for fame at any cost. All three men had difficult upbringings with absent or abusive fathers but were shaped in different ways by those experiences.
Ian Shaw is the ghost of his father Robert! It was mesmerising to watch and listen to him. Funny and tense, you really felt he could break at any moment but then he’s pours another drink. Dan Fredenburgh as Scheider was also a genius piece of casting. He was 100% perfect with Scheiders voice, mannerisms and movements. As a massive Jaws fan I was less convinced by Ashley Margolis as Dreyfuss but he still completed the ensemble wonderfully.
There is a fourth member of the cast to mention – the set. One set which is a cross section of the Orcas cabin with the finest detail added. Behind the boat is a screen showing a constant vista of the ocean, day and night with the occasional shout out from the crew of ‘Action! The shark is working’.
The three men talk about life, family, the future, how they see the film industry changing and on occasion the film and script. Quint's Indianapolis monologue is discussed several times, learning that it was rewritten by Shaw himself and towards the end of the play we hear him deliver it. It gave me goosebumps listening to Ian Shaw recreate the scene, I felt as though I was on board the Orca with them.
You need to know Jaws to enjoy The Shark is Broken but you won’t be disappointed. You’ll laugh, gasp and maybe even cry but you will come out smiling and more deeply in love with the movie, and ‘Bruce’ the shark. You may even pick up the Peter Benchley book as I have.
The Shark is Broken is at Nottingham's Theatre Royal until Saturday 1 March 2025.
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