It begins with sounds in the dark: that familiar, urgent theme music — then seagulls, creaking boats, the background bustle of men and machines, the creaking and clanking of some kind of work being done on some kind of mechanical object. That object has a name: Bruce.
Bruce is the shark that was famously, endlessly broken, the shark that caused expensive and unpleasant weeks of delays during the filming of “Jaws” in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard in late spring 1974. For much of that delay, the three lead actors (Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss) were stuck together on the small boat called the Orca. And now, for a very entertaining 90 minutes, you can be stuck with them at the play “The Shark Is Broken.”
Shaw, who played Quint (and drank as heavily as the character did), kept a diary of that fractious, tense, frustrating time; his son Ian has given us all a treat by writing a play about it. The script is an engaging blend of history, humor, exposition, self-reflection, and in-jokes. Some of those jokes feel custom-tailored for a Vineyard audience. (I won’t share any of them here; go see it. I promise you’ll laugh.)
The three actors are terrific at embodying Shaw (Timothy W. Hull), Scheider (Josh Tyson), and Dreyfuss (Jonathan Randell Silver) –– indeed, when Silver enters and spits out the first line of the play –– “What a God-almighty f______ waste of time!” –– it’s hard not to chortle with recognition at the familiar voice and body language.
The demands of this production are unusual: All three of the performers are playing well-known actors who were in turn playing now-iconic roles. Each of the play’s actors took a different approach to prepare for his part. Prior to their rehearsal period, Silver watched “Jaws” three or four times, as well as the films Dreyfuss was in just before and after it. Tyson took almost the opposite approach, focusing on Scheider as a dramatic character rather than a real person to imitate (he happens to look so much like Scheider that the similarity is still striking).
Hull had an additional challenge. Unlike the other two, Robert Shaw’s affect was nothing at all like Quint’s (even when he was drunk). He was a well-mannered Brit whose speaking voice was higher and lighter than the curmudgeonly shark hunter’s. So his appearance is disorienting; having been lulled into a false sense of the familiar, suddenly we’re reminded that we’re not watching the characters from “Jaws,” but the men who played them. Men who are stuck together on a boat in unpleasant weather with nothing to do but talk to each other — not unlike the characters themselves. Whether you’re familiar with the film or you’ve been in hiding and somehow missed it, the drama stemming from such circumstances is compelling, humorous, and existential. “It’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ meets ‘No Exit,’” said executive producer David Elliott. “With a shark.” (Editorial note: And funnier.)
The play’s arrival on the Vineyard is a story in itself. When Ian Shaw first wrote the script, he asked his friend Guy Masterson to direct it; Masterson’s original dream had been to do it on Martha’s Vineyard, but they were on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Masterson helmed the play successfully through a series of productions that began in Brighton, England, before going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then London’s West End, where it was nominated for an Olivier Award. “I knew it would be a good show,” he said, “but I had no idea there was such ‘Jaws’ fever!” The North American premiere was in Toronto, and eventually it went to Broadway.
So how’d it end up here?
Last July, Circuit Arts applied for production rights so that Brooke Ditchfield could direct “The Shark Is Broken” with three local actors. Ditchfield runs the theater program at the high school, so she intended to put it on at the Performing Arts Center.
But after a long delay, Circuit Arts was denied the rights. Here’s why: One of the Broadway co-producers, Bill Hanney, owns Edgartown Cinemas. Cannily anticipating the local appetite for “Jaws”-related material during the 50th anniversary summer, he had reserved all performance rights for the region. He knew David Elliott professionally, and had invited him to produce it with him on the Vineyard; Elliott also knew Masterson, and asked him if he’d like to direct it again on Martha’s Vineyard, which had been Masterson’s original wish. Masterson immediately accepted.
“A couple months later,” said Ditchfield, “[Circuit Arts] got a call from David Elliott, saying, ‘Hi, I’m the producer, and we know that you had applied for the rights to do the show here. We’re realizing we can’t just arrive on the Vineyard and put on a show. We’re going to need some local help on the ground.”
Above all, they needed a proper theater with at least 450 seats. “I told them there’s only one of those on the Island, and I happen to run the theater program there,” said Ditchfield. “So we began to discuss a co-production.” Circuit Arts also secured local support staff for them, as well as rehearsal space and housing at the Vineyard Arts Project in Edgartown.
“It’s really exciting to be able to bring a West End/Broadway production to the Vineyard, which I think might be the first time that’s happened,” said Ditchfield. “It was exciting to take that step and work with partners we really get along with. Collaboration is not always easy, but it’s been really fun.”
“The Shark Is Broken” premieres July 5 at the Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs. For more information, go to sharkmv.com.