May 5
Theater Review: 'The Shark Is Broken' Works Like a Dream
Steve Duffy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The mechanical shark in "Jaws" may have been broken, but everything else works like a dream in "The Shark is Broken," most notably the performances. This sharply written, surprisingly moving one-act play, co-written by Ian Shaw (son of Robert Shaw) and Joseph Nixon, pulls the curtain back on what happened when production delays stranded the film's three stars – Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss – on a boat set with nothing to do but drink, smoke, argue, and wait.
Set entirely in the cramped cabin of the Orca, the play traps its characters in a pressure cooker of egos, insecurities, and grudging camaraderie. The setting is claustrophobic by design – just as the actors in "Jaws" were forced into uneasy proximity, so are we drawn into their friction-filled purgatory.
Standing out is Timothy W. Hull as Shaw in a fully lived-in performance – raw, regretful, and laced with biting wit. Hull doesn't sanitize Robert's demons, nor does he villainize him. Josh Tyson (as Roy Scheider) brings a quiet control to the trio, acting as the straight man to the theatrical bluster around him. At the same time, Jonathan Randell Silver, as the hyper-neurotic Richard Dreyfuss, is a bundle of nervous energy that sparks explosive chemistry with Shaw's brooding gravitas.
Though the play leans heavily on industry in-jokes and meta-commentary, it doesn't require intimate knowledge of "Jaws" to enjoy. There's universal resonance here: The struggle between legacy and self-worth, the push-pull of artistic collaboration, and the slow, creeping awareness of time running out. It's about fame, fear, and the vast, unknowable deep – not just the ocean, but mortality.
Guy Masterson's direction is taut and well-paced, allowing the comedy and pathos to emerge naturally. The set design – worn, wooden, and bathed in golden nautical light – helps immerse the audience in both the period and the tension.
"The Shark is Broken" is a witty, nostalgic, and unexpectedly tender piece of theatre. It may be about a broken prop, but it explores the fractured machinery of human relationships – and, in that regard, it's a resounding success.
"The Shark Is Broken" continues through May 11 at the North Shore Music Theatre, 54 Dunham Rd., Beverly, MA. For more information, visit the NSMT website. This new production will then move to Oak Bluffs for a summer run at the Martha's Vineyard Performing Arts Center.
