FAREWELL AND ADIEU TO THE SHARK IS BROKEN
Sunday 13 February 2022 sees the final voyage of The Shark Is Broken in the West End.
After getting postponed thanks to Covid, it surfaced at The Ambassadors Theatre to great acclaim from critics and public alike.
The play about the behind-the-scenes events on the making of Jaws by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon not only got a just-deserved bigger run, with its original run extended, but it also made its summer dollars back.
With that holy theatre trinity of plaudits, popularity and making its pounds back it was perfect. For many, it probably sounded like a sure thing, being about Jaws, with the son of Jaws legend Robert Shaw. Or should that be the Shaw thing? But there is no such thing, and especially so in these challenging times.
Its success is not a bad record for this vicinity, especially when so many West End Shows have perished or had their runs curtailed thanks in one way another to Covid.
Producer Sonia Friedman, on the Sonia Friedman Productions website, said: “It has been a hugely challenging time to open a new play in the West End, but I am immensely proud of all we have achieved with The Shark Is Broken, which recently recouped despite – well – everything. This is a real achievement in these unprecedented times, and its success is worth commenting on. For a show to make the jump from the Edinburgh Fringe to the West End is a remarkable feat at the best of time. To do so in these circumstances is utterly extraordinary – and a testament to the sheer crowd-pleasing brilliance of Ian and Joseph’s play.”
And The Daily Jaws has been there since the start, not just the start of its run in London – although it was part of the press day for that as well – but there in Brighton in the hundred-seat Rialto – which was even ahead of the it transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe.
The Daily Jaws creator Ross Williams outside the Rialto Theatre in Brighton where Jaws inspired play The Shark Is Broken was first performed back in 2019.
On the press day last year, Ian was quick to thank The Daily Jaws and its followers for helping keep the project alive. He said: “I would love to say a huge thank you to all The Daily Jaws fans, without you guys it probably wouldn’t have had a chance to start, because we started very small and it needed the oxygen of people spreading the word, so thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
During its run in London, The Daily Jaws has been proud to be an official media partner of the show, which has seen the world’s number one Jaws fan-site post almost 30 articles and eight videos about all aspects of the show, like yellow barrels keeping it at the surface in the minds of Jaws fans in the UK and around the world.
Ross Williams, director and founder of The Daily Jaws, said: “It has been a real honour and privilege to help play our part in this amazing show that shows just how big a fan-base there is for all things Jaws. It has been wonderful to work so closely with cast and crew throughout its West End run, and to know we helped chum the waters for Jaws fans when the show was very first announced.
“It’s amazing to think that one of Ian’s first videos for us has now had over 240,000 views. It’s been an amazing journey with Ian, Demetri as Roy Scheider, Liam as Richard Dreyfuss and Guy Masterson as its director, as well as everyone we have worked with behind the scenes, especially the PR team and Tom and Jo. Here’s hoping we get to set sail with them again in future.”
Dean Newman, head of content for The Daily Jaws, added: “We’ve said all along that this show has been the biggest thing in the world of Jaws since the release of the original film. And we’ll stand by that, as I am sure will anyone who set foot inside The Ambassadors Theatre and saw the sublime, jaw-dropping Orca design by Duncan Henderson, the lighting, the costuming, the acting and bristle of electricity from the whole damn thing. Anyway, we helped deliver The Shark Is Broken. How great is that?”
Like Jaws, The Shark Is Broken won’t slip beneath the surface, it will long continue to be talked about in the same manner as seeing the Steven Spielberg classic in its original run in 1975. The I saw it in Brighton, Edinburgh or London crowd.
Here’s hoping though that it just might dock in a few more places before the Orca and its cast and crew are too long in the tooth, or should that be jaws?
And here is hoping that Steven Spielberg himself is aware of it. Ross added: “We are told that Spielberg is aware of The Daily Jaws, so hopefully he will have seen us mention The Shark Is Broken in some of our articles about it.
“We know Jaws co-screenwriter Carl Gottlieb and production designer Joe Alves know us, so again isn’t it just great that they can also see just how the legacy of Jaws and its legendary production – which is as famous as the film itself – has been alive and well and bringing in huge, appreciative audiences in London since last October. The Shark Is Broken has given us our Jaws fix and will have even introduced others to the film for the first time.”
Words by Dean Newman
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