IT is one of the most famous films of all time, with a threatening, drumming score that still sends shivers down the spine – amazingly, it is 50 years since Jaws savaged its way into the collective nightmares of a generation. But what happened out at sea when the cameras stopped rolling? Broadway and West End hit The Shark is Broken comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Monday 3rd to Saturday 8th March, with some hilarious and decidedly queazy ideas!
On tour in the 50th anniversary year of the iconic 1975 film, which is generally regarded as the first Hollywood blockbuster, this Olivier Award-nominated play celebrates movie history as it peeks at the choppy waters behind the movie, imagining what happened off-camera on board The Orca, during the filming of Steven Spielberg’s epic movie.
Co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and inspired by Robert Shaw’s experience playing Quint, the cast are Ian Shaw, starring as his father (Robert), alongside Dan Fredenburgh as Roy Scheider and Ashley Margolis as Richard Dreyfuss.
FADE IN: The open ocean, 1974. Filming is delayed … again. The lead actors – theatre veteran Robert Shaw and young Hollywood hotshots Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider – are crammed into a too-small boat, entirely at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical co-star. Alcohol flows, egos collide and tempers flare on a chaotic voyage that just might lead to cinematic magic … if it doesn’t sink them all.
Ian Shaw’s many stage credits include War Horse and Common at the National Theatre. Previously at the Theatre Royal Bath, he has starred in Peace In Our Time in 1995, Lady Windermere’s Fan in 2000, Three Sisters in 2002 and Much Ado About Nothing for Bremer Shakespeare Company, a production which appeared in the 2004 Bath Shakespeare Festival. Ian’s film credits include Century, Moondance, The Boys and Girl from County Clare, The Contract and Johnny English Reborn; and on television he has appeared in Wuthering Heights, The Queen, Medics, Ghost Hour, Watership Down, Silent Witness, Cambridge Spies and the Emmy award-winning Hiroshima.
Dan Fredenburgh’s theatre credits include the title role in the RSC’s production of The Prince of Homburg, A Few Good Men with Rob Lowe, An Inspector Calls, the Globe Theatre’s production of The Merchant of Venice with Jonathan Pryce, which transferred to Broadway, and Complicité’s award-winning production of Mnemonic. He has performed at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in The Portrait Of A Lady in 2008 and Noises Off in 2023. His film credits include The Bourne Ultimatum, Love Actually and political drama Adults In The Room, and his television credits include BBC adaptations of Jane Austen’s Emma and A Christmas Carol.
Ashley Margolis’ theatre credits include The Band’s Visit at Donmar Warehouse, which was nominated for Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards, the London revival of Bad Jews in the West End, and the original UK tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. His television credits include Silent Witness, Brassic, Father Brown, Some Girls and the BAFTA-winning Anne Frank: A Life In Hiding.
Following its critical and sell-out success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, The Shark Is Broken transferred to the West End in 2021, playing at the Ambassadors Theatre for a limited Season, where it enjoyed an extended run due to huge popular demand and received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Play. In July 2023 the production transferred to Broadway for a 16-week run at the John Golden Theatre where it garnered fresh critical acclaim.
Martha Geelan directs the tour of The Shark Is Broken, based on original direction by Guy Masterson with set and costume design by Duncan Henderson, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Adam Cork, video design by Nina Dunn.
Photographs by Manuel Harlan