Review: ‘The Shark is Broken’ at Laguna Playhouse
- Raj Walia
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
If you are even remotely a fan of the 1975 blockbuster movie “Jaws,” you will thoroughly enjoy the play “The Shark is Broken” at Laguna Playhouse, written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon about the off-screen dialogue among the movie’s three main actors — Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw.
Ian Shaw based the play on stories his father Robert shared with him about what went on “backstage” during filming. But "backstage” in this case means these characters are actually on the Orca, the boat in “Jaws,” afloat off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
Day after day during filming, the actual star of the movie — a mechanical shark — and inconsistencies in weather and boat traffic in the New England sound, don’t allow the actors to move forward in shooting the story.
Though in sporadic moments the shark and weather briefly align to allow filming a couple of shots and saying a few of their lines, most of the time the men must wait idly for the mechanical Jaws to function. Scenic design by Fred Kinney presents the audience with a cross section of the Orca, where the three actors share their frustrations with the shark, weather and hopes for the future.
Will Block portrays young Dreyfuss as hotly eager to jump into the world of acting and the fame it could bring. If only he could land a job in a blockbuster film — maybe it’ll be this Steven Spielberg directed movie! In contrast, Adam Poole plays the oh-so-cool Scheider, no stranger to the acting world, with a nonchalant demeanor starkly opposite Dreyfuss’ enthusiasm for fame.
Meanwhile, the more mature and deeply resonant Robert Shaw (Gildart Jackson) draws the other two into drinking and playing competitive cards and other English pub games as they wait. Jackson anchors the production, believably salty and crusty as Shaw. His grounded performance brings Shaw alive as a whiskey laden, Shakespearean actor, and we feel the epic weight of his performance in the film.
As directed by Pesha Rudnick, “The Shark is Broken” is a fine rendering of the inner workings of a movie that launched careers and opened doors to the future of film. The play shows how synergistic energy among unique actors can be greater than their individual efforts. We are treated to great jokes and banter, but also a vividly horrifying concluding monologue recited perfectly by Jackson as Robert Shaw, evoking the movie’s primal fear of looking into dark gray waters and wondering if Jaws — the real one — is lurking just below the waves.
“The Shark is Broken” continues through March 22 at Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Rd., Laguna Beach, with shows Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Thursdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 949-497-2787 or visit LagunaPlayhouse.com. Run time is 95 minutes with no intermission.
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