HIT JAWS-INSPIRED PLAY 'THE SHARK IS BROKEN' NOMINATED FOR OLIVIER AWARD

The Shark Is Broken, written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, and directed Guy Masterson, has been nominated for a Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.

Not bad for a play that started in a small theatre in Brighton before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe and then - thanks to Covid - a belated (but extended) run in the West End.

It stars Ian Shaw, playing his dad Robert Shaw, Demetri Goritsas as Roy Scheider and Liam Murray Scott as Richard Dreyfuss. The threesome look and sound the spits of the actors, all dressed as Quint, Brody and Hooper.

Essentially it was like being an extra crew member on the Orca during the production of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, whilst it was being filmed in Martha's Vineyard in 1974. We called it the most important thing to happen to Jaws since the release of the film back in 1975.

The prestigious nomination means that the show, which made its home at The Ambassadors Theatre is in the running against the following productions.

The Choir Of Man at Arts Theatre

Pantoland At The Palladium at The London Palladium

Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of) at Criterion Theatre

When the play was wrapping up its extended run, 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 their brilliance now sees them find themselves in a category that has seen the likes of Alan Ayckbourn, Willy Russell, Tom Stoppard, J. B. Priestley, William Shakespeare, Alan Bennett, Neil Simon, Ben Elton, David Mamet, Simon Beaufoy and Phoebe Waller-Bridge be nominated. Not a bad record of nominees for this or any vicinity.

Previous winners of the award include Privates on Parade (1977), Educating Rita (1980), Noises Off (1982), A Chorus of Disapproval (1985), Shirley Valentine (1988), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (1993), 'Art' (1997), Popcorn (1998), The 39 Steps (2007) and The Play That Goes Wrong (2015).

That category also has a good pedigree of productions nominated making the eventual leap to film - stand up The Full Monty, East Is East, Quartet, Little Voice, Up 'n' Under and Educating Rita - so, perhaps one day The Shark Is Broken could transfer from stage to screen. Wouldn't that be poetic?

The awards began in 1976 and were renamed The Olivier Awards in 1984, after the actor Lord Olivier - who incidentally Roy Scheider starred alongside the year after Jaws, in Marathon Man (1976). Robert Shaw also starred alongside Olivier in Battle of Britain (1969).

Winners of the 2022 Olivier Awards will be announced on Sunday, 10 April at The Royal Albert Hall, and will be broadcast on ITV and Magic Radio in the UK.

Words by Dean Newman

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