The Shark is Broken

The Shark is Broken

The lowry

4^th to 8^th February 

***The cast are brilliant and unsinkable***

*** This play will have you hook, line and sinker ***

We can all play name that tune and guess the Jaws theme tune in the first two notes, and we all remember the immortal line ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat’, however not many of us know what really happened on the set and the reported clash of personalities between the principle cast members. Enter Ian Shaw co-writer and son of original cast member Robert Shaw. He has carefully researched and written this wonderful script along with Joseph Nixon.

The play has one set which is the fishing boat ‘Orca’, with a sea-scape projected across screens that moved the story’s timeline along. The film famously went over schedule and massively over budget and this is the backdrop of the play. Ian plays his father, Robert Shaw, with Dan Frendenburgh playing Roy Scheider and Ashley Margolis as Richard Dreyfuss. The other member of the cast ‘Bruce’ has a lot off stage issues and doesn’t seem to like seawater – sorry Bruce is the name given by Spielberg to the many pneumatic sharks. Bruce causesmany hold ups, due to its inability to function well in seawater. This leads to the cast spending days stuck on the boat bickering between themselves waiting for filming to start.

The cast are brilliant and unsinkable, this is a fantastic trio who complement each other perfectly. Robert Shaw at the time, struggled with alcohol abuse. Something his son Ian Shaw no doubt was aware of when he was young, and he pulls on these experiences to bring him to life with fire and panache. We see him slowly getting more inebriated and becoming annoyed with Richard Dreyfuss and his emerging fame and insecurities. We loved how Ashley Margolis portrayed Richard Dreyfuss with a boyish naivety. Dan Frendenburgh is skilful in delivering Roy Scheider lines in a balanced way as he tries to mediate between the two.

This inside view of what happened in-between filming is gripping. The drama is here and completely believable. There are plenty of comedy moments which ebb and flow naturally. This non-interval play has a running time of 95minuets, but flew by with the standing ovation well earned. This play will have you hook, line and sinker. Catch it at the Lowry until Saturday 8^th February.