Assembly George Square Studios, Edinburgh

 

Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss are filming Steven Spielberg’s movie about a shark terrorising a New England community, but the behind-the-scenes drama is proving even more tense.

Much has been written and filmed about Jaws’ tortuous journey to the screen, from the poor behaviour of its mechanical shark to disruptive weather, to local disputes, and that’s before we even address the friction between the trio of leads. Carl Gottlieb’s The Jaws Log is still arguably the definitive text on the subject, but The Shark is Broken is a different beast altogether. A 70-minute play co-written (with Joseph Nixon) by Ian Shaw, partially based on his father’s diaries (Robert Shaw – shark hunter Quint) this is a dramatisation of the hours spent on board the Orca, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, waiting for Bruce the shark to work.

After three previews in Brighton, this crowdfunded venture has a residency in the Scottish capital as part of the Edinburgh Festival. The physical resemblance between Ian and his father is remarkable, and once you’ve added the whiskers and cap it’s as if he’s really there, recounting the sorry tale of the USS Indianapolis. Shaw junior is roughly the same age as his father was when filming the role – late forties – and so the timing is spot on.

He’s ably supported by Duncan Henderson as Roy Scheider and Liam Murray Scott as Richard Dreyfuss, each grasping the mannerisms and qualities of their real-life counterparts, aided by some spot-on costume recreations and a compact interior of the Orca. The writing is great – peppered with in-jokes and foreshadowing of what will come to pass in the movie industry and the actors’ future lives. There’s in-jokes aplenty for the Jaws fans, but ultimately it’s the humanity that comes through, the tragedy that Robert Shaw’s alcoholism is consuming him in the same way that it destroyed his father.

Verdict: The Shaws do Jaws: Possibly the best £10 you’ll spend at the festival this season. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing. 10/10

 

10/10

 

The Shark is Broken is playing until 25 August. Tickets and more details from https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/shark-is-broken