REVIEW: The Shark is Broken at the Everyman Theatre

Cheltenham

A look through the porthole of Hollywood’s first blockbuster, Jaws.

Set aboard the cozy confines of the Orca, this production by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon is an intense and unexpectedly moving experience; their script writing provides a fine balance of wit and melancholy. Now showing at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, The Shark is Broken offers insight into three actors – theatre veteran Robert Shaw and young Hollywood hotshots Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider – who are thrown into a comedic farce, at the mercy of tumultuous weather, a faulty mechanical shark and each other.

Ian Shaw plays his own father, Robert Shaw, and is clearly the anchor point for the production. His portrayal of an unflinching classically trained man, who is fighting inner demons, provides enough friction and poetic flourishes to draw out the innards of others, like Dreyfuss (Ashley Margolis), a young method-driven actor with the world in front of him and his own self-doubts. The dynamic interplay between these ‘live wires’ is grounded and made sense of by the presence of Scheider (Dan Fredenburgh) who is stoic, insightful, and quietly reflective. Each character is there for a reason with their textured and complex lives – each has something significant to contribute.

 

The drama isn’t in the water, it’s in the waiting.

 

With the titular shark out of action, tensions rise, and emotions take a deep dive, leading to a poignant exploration of masculinity, ego and legacy. The space that is created by the malfunctioning fish, gives the three men time for introspection – a journey into their pasts, what made them and shaped their perceptions and expectations and what their fate might be. Their interactions are made up of a patchwork of sobering human tales, musings about the film industry, laughter, anger and the raw truth of life and aspirations – all delivered in 95 minutes of sharp dialogue.

 

The set and lighting, designed with meticulous detail, plays a role too.

 

The set, which is clearly seen from the outset, is a cramped cabin, which comes to life as the actors occupy and move about the space, sometimes together and sometimes individually. The wooden benches, stained windows and scattered mugs reflect the boredom of the three, while their proximity serves to amplify their brewing feelings for one another. They have no real escape from the situation in which they find themselves which makes for great entertainment. At the same time, the lighting subtly transforms the space as day after day goes by and the mood changes as much as the sea does from morning to twilight. Each shift in light reflected the shift in the mental state of the actors, giving the production a cinematic feel during each bout of volatility and brilliance.

Whether you’re a die-hard Jaws fan or simply a lover of well-crafted theatre, The Shark is Broken offers a fresh, funny, and quietly heartbreaking perspective on what it takes to create a classic. It acts to remind us that there are real people, with dreams not so different from our own, behind every blockbuster.

The Shark is Broken is showing at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham until Saturday 26th April 2025.

Review by Julia

 

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