The climax of The Shark Is Broken is the perfect celebration of Robert Shaw in JAWS

Call it fate, or coincidence, but it is certainly poetic and absolutely fitting that on August 9, the day before The Shark Is Broken has its Broadway opening night, it would have been the 96th birthday of Quint actor Robert Shaw.

It may be 45 years this year since the untimely death of the acting juggernaut, bit his presence isn't just felt, it is seen and heard as embodied by his son, Ian Shaw.

The Olivier-nominated play is co-written by him (alongside Joseph Nixon) and features Ian treading the boards of the Orca - and the stage of the Golden Theater on Broadway - dressed playing his Oscar-nominated dad (but unbelievably not for Quint) in his most celebrated and iconic role from Steven Spielberg's JAWS.

The play - which also stars Alex Brightman as Richard Dreyfuss and Colin Donnell as Roy Scheider - is like time travel itself, transporting you back to Martha's Vineyard in 1974, and just when you think the 90 minute tour de force can't get any better, it inexplicably does, almost as if what has gone before was a rollercoaster making its way up the tracks for the brakes to be released and you feel such an emphatic rush and release of joy and emotion.

And it’s about that time the collective audience all realise that Ian Shaw is going to do it, he is going to perform the USS Indianapolis speech.

As that realisation dawns an invisible murmur of excitement filters through the theater, almost as if you are seeing it performed by Robert Shaw himself, and it may as well be as if he is telling that tale directly to you.

Speaking to SciFiNow, Ian said of that iconic speech: “It’s a hell of a thing to do the Indianapolis speech. I suppose that was the cornerstone of the play really and the movie. A lot of people who like Jaws love that scene the most… Some fans have said that it gives them chills. It’s just a beautiful speech."

There's also something very fitting and full circle about Ian co-writing a play – Robert was also a playwright and author - starring as his legendary dad, delivering a monologue that the Quint actor helped shape and hone...and deliver the head, the tail the whole damn thing so amazingly it is quite rightly regarded as not just perhaps the standout moment of the film and play, but one of the most beloved and just enthralling in all of cinema. And it is just a man sat at a table recounting the most terrible of stories. But each time, we hang on each. And. Every. Word.

The USS Indianapolis speech has always been emotional, but this is like something else, an almost religious experience for fans of the film and cinema in general. And you can hear a pin drop.

And Ian Shaw's performance certainly made a lasting impression on these fans adding more depth and meaning to when you next see Shaw senior perform it on screen, which let's be fair, is never too far away.

Samantha McCrae said: "Ian's performance during the much-loved Indianapolis monologue was not only truly moving as a standalone monologue but a powerful homage to his father."

Phil Claydon, filmmaker and author, was also thrilled by seeing Shaw's performance as his dad, delivering that speech. He said: "Watching Ian Shaw do the Indianapolis speech… It’s a mesmeric tour de force performance… I held my breath as it began… like Robert Shaw possessed the stage for four minutes.”

Whilst another The Daily Jaws follower, @PollyPoppets on Twitter, said: "The whole play is a joy but, as a huge Jaws fan, to witness Ian deliver THAT speech is something extra special.

It's during that scene that it truly is hard to say where one Shaw begins and the other one ends, father and son somehow reunited in that very moment in our hearts and minds, taking that powerful speech to a whole new level, making for an emotional and moving finale to an astounding 90 minutes that will touch you, make you laugh, make you think...and perhaps even make you shed a tear. In short, it is a Shaw fire success.

In his book, Nigel Andrews on Jaws, the author said: “Jaws without the Indianapolis speech would be like Hamlet without 'To be or not to be'.”

When are you heading to see The Shark Is Broken at the Golden Theater? That is the only question.

Words by Dean Newman

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