The Shark is Broken to perform at JAWS shooting location Martha's Vineyard
Producers David Elliott and Bill Hanney. (photo credit Ray Ewing)
The behind-the-scenes drama of filming Jaws in 1974 is set to hit Martha’s Vineyard this summer as The Shark Is Broken arrives after successful runs on Broadway and overseas. Written by actor and playwright Ian Shaw, the play offers a glimpse into the off-camera dynamics between the film’s three leads.
Produced in collaboration with Island nonprofit Circuit Arts, the Vineyard production comes just after the 50th anniversary of Jaws, which debuted in theaters on June 20, 1975. “There’s a lot of humor in it,” said producer David Elliott.
At one point in the play, Richard Dreyfuss’s character speculates that in 20 years, no one will remember Jaws.
The play follows the actors as they drink, argue, and kill time while waiting for the film’s mechanical shark to be repaired. As they bicker and bond, they discuss their careers, their frustrations, their fathers, and their craft.
Martha’s Vineyard references abound in the play, grounding the story in the location where Jaws was filmed. “It’s about as behind-the-scenes as it gets,” said producer Bill Hanney. Central to the narrative is Robert Shaw’s struggle to perfect Quint’s famous Indianapolis speech, in which the grizzled sailor recalls surviving shark-infested waters after the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in 1945.
Unhappy with the script by Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, Robert Shaw—who was also a published playwright—rewrote the monologue himself. Steven Spielberg filmed it in a single, uncut take, cementing it as one of the most iconic speeches in cinema history.
Starring Ian Shaw as his father, The Shark Is Broken debuted in 2019 in Brighton, England, before moving to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After pandemic-related delays, the play later enjoyed a run in London’s West End in 2021-2022, premiered in Toronto in 2022, and had a limited Broadway engagement in 2023.
Though Ian Shaw has performed in every prior production, he will be unable to join the Vineyard cast due to his current tour in England and Ireland. However, original director Guy Masterson, a staple of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, eagerly signed on to lead the Island production. “Guy, because of Martha’s Vineyard, leapt at the chance,” Mr. Hanney said.
There’s a possibility that Ian Shaw may visit the Vineyard later in the run, after his U.K. tour ends, Mr. Hanney added.
The Island production will retain the original lighting design and music, composed by Tony Award-winner Adam Cork. While the score evokes the spirit of Jaws, it does so without using John Williams’s famous theme. “The music feels right without being the actual Jaws music,” Mr. Hanney noted. Cork also designed an immersive soundscape filled with the ambient sounds of waves and seabirds.
With 750 seats, the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center is slightly larger than ideal for The Shark Is Broken, but it is the only local stage that can accommodate the play’s centerpiece: a replica of the Orca, the fishing boat where all the action takes place. As Mr. Hanney quipped, to paraphrase Jaws, “the producers would need a smaller boat.”
Before arriving on the Vineyard, The Shark Is Broken will play at Mr. Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly from May 2 to May 11. The set will then be transported to Oak Bluffs, with actors arriving in late June. The production will even feature in Edgartown’s July 4 Independence Day parade.
In 1975, JAWS played in the Edgartown town hall, which was also featured in the movie (photo credit Ray Ewing)
Tickets for the Vineyard run are not yet on sale, but the official website, sharkmv.com, is in development. Pricing details are still being finalized, though Beverly tickets range from $45 to $65.
“The most important thing is we want everybody to see it,” Mr. Hanney emphasized.
As the owner of Edgartown Cinemas and numerous theaters across New England, Mr. Hanney was one of The Shark Is Broken’s Broadway producers and has long dreamed of bringing it to Martha’s Vineyard. “I only had one thing in mind: to bring it here. That’s why I invested in the Broadway show,” he said while visiting the Gazette offices with Mr. Elliott.
“I’ve loved this movie since I was a little kid,” Mr. Hanney said. While he typically produces musicals, he made an exception for The Shark Is Broken, calling it “such a good play.”
Ian Shaw, who was a young boy when his father starred as Quint, drew inspiration for the play from Robert Shaw’s “drinking diary” from the Jaws set. “I had a mustache for another role I was playing. Suddenly I realized I looked like Quint. We were the same age. So I sketched out some ideas for a play,” Shaw wrote in an author’s letter for the play’s U.K. tour.
Collaborating with writer Joseph Nixon, Shaw developed the script, setting the action entirely on the floating set of Jaws as Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss waited between takes.
Producer David Elliott compared The Shark Is Broken to Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, though with much less existential bleakness. “It’s funny and insightful,” he noted, with a brisk 95-minute runtime.
