Forget Barbenheimer, without Oppenheimer there would be no The Shark Is Broken

Anyway, they delivered the bomb. And when we men they, we are talking about J Robert Oppenheimer, Robert Shaw’s Quint from JAWS and his real-life son, Ian Shaw, who is poised to bring his dad to life in The Shark Is Broken, which begins previews on Broadway from July 25.

Oppenheimer, his story and that of The Manhattan Project’s mission to create and use the atomic bomb, has been brought to stunning life by Christopher Nolan. The brilliant physicist may have uttered the iconic phrase “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds …” but because of it he unknowingly helped create a chain of events that meant he became the creator of the world that helped give birth to the Olivier-nominated stage show The Shark Is Broken.

Here’s how…

Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975) has one of the most famous monologues in film history, where stuck on the Orca, Quint (played masterfully by Robert Shaw) tells Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) about being on board the ill-fated USS Indianapolis.

That ship and its fate was very real, even if there was no Quint on board. It was in Japanese waters as it was returning from a secret mission to deliver the Hiroshima bomb, which would be the very first time the device was to be used.

It being chosen as a location was no accident, as Oppenheimer knew that using it there would have maximum impact, and despite the devastating losses of civilian life, he knew it had to have a big impact and was less about it being the first time such a destructive force was used, but more he hoped it would be the last.

That bomb, known as Little Boy, was delivered on a B-29 bomber - dubbed the flying fortress - called Enola Gay. It was piloted by Paul Tibbets, and in 2005 the BBC and The Discovery Channel produced a docu-drama about the dropping of the bomb and its aftermath.

Playing Tibbets was none other than Ian Shaw, son of Quint-actor, Robert Shaw. So, technically Robert Shaw had delivered the Hiroshima bomb for his son to fly it over Hiroshima.

An event that actually happened in 1945, immortalised in the USS Indianapolis speech 30 years later, and linked from acting father to acting son another 30 years after that.

And, if there hadn't been that strange quirk of historic connection, then perhaps we would not have ended up with Ian co-writing and starring in The Shark Is Broken, about the behind-the-scenes antics on the set of JAWS.

Shaw is playing his dad, playing Quint, which sees everything come full circle as he gets to deliver the same mesmerising USS Indianapolis monologue that his dad did.

Ian told The Daily Jaws, the world’s number one JAWS site and an official media partner of the Broadway show, about the genesis of the idea from him playing the role of the Enola Gay pilot that linked him to Quint, and his dad.

Ian said: “In 2005 I played Colonel Tibbets in a drama-documentary called Hiroshima. He was the commanding officer of the Enola Gay, so he was the one who received the atomic bomb from the USS Indianapolis.

“I thought of my father delivering the Bomb to me, suffering the horrors of being torpedoed and under shark attack, and thought that was a surreal connection. Years later I lay in bed one night thinking about JAWS, and also the wonderful JAWS LOG by Carl Gottlieb, and I thought it might be interesting to tell the story of the three actors waiting on the Orca while the shark was broken.

“So, I sketched out some ideas - there were some subjects that interested me, particularly alcoholism, art vs commercialism, ego vs teamwork, boredom, neurosis. Then I shelved the idea as being too personal, and potentially tasteless.

“It came back when I discussed it with a writer friend, Jospeh Nixon, who thought it was a story that should be told. So, we wrote it together in the end. I still had my doubts, but when my family read it and approved of it, I felt it should be staged. I am about my father’s age when he played Quint, so this has to be the time to do it!”

And now you can follow the latest leg of this epic journey as The Shark Is Broken, after hugely successful runs at The Edinburgh Fringe, London’s West End and Toronto in Canada, finally docks on Broadway.

Joining Ian Shaw on board the stunning set of the Orca are two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman as Richard Dreyfuss and Colin Donnell as Roy Scheider. It is an often funny and moving production, which should not be missed by any fans of film, JAWS or theater. To paraphrase Quint, we promise it is pretty good stuff.

Don’t wait for me! Hook your tickets for limited run of The Shark Is Broken here.

Words by Dean Newman

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