It was a dark and stormy night – three men are freezing in an old fishing boat when they discover – WHAT?! The SHARK is BROKEN?! Yes, this is a look behind the scenes at the filming of JAWS. If you devoured the book as my sister and I did in middle school, the first scene in the film wound us up – we knew what was coming and as always how we imagined it was not nearly as – um – colorful as it wound up being. That said, we calmed down a bit and enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s adaptation. 12-year-olds know nothing of the world. Nor did we know that we were looking at the early work of a genius.
We know that actors have egos, and the only thing bigger than an actor’s ego is this giant mechanical fish, Bruce, who is quite literally broken. While coal becomes a diamond under pressure, three actors, all at different parts of their careers, are about to be pushed to the brink. Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s play in Peter Flynn’s hands is fascinating. We know that it could very well be a one-sided recollection, yet, so much fun. Anne Mundell’s set is brilliant and Alan C. Edwards’ lighting design takes it’s modeling seriously. Yellow light in the cabin contrasts with the cool affect of the blue, blue water creating a character of its own. Siena Zoe Allen’s costumes ably show that the Devil is in the details.
Roy Scheider (Jason Babinsky) is Mr. Cool. He’s the Zen Master of the three as they wait in the bitter North Atlantic waters in a rust bucket fishing boat and swap yarns. Robert Shaw (Jeffrey M. Bender) is an actor and writer of great renown. Of equal renown is his drinking. Enter Richard Dreyfuss (Max Wolkowitz) who has just had his first wee taste of success as an actor – and it appears to have gone to his head like champagne bubbles. And we see the descent into maelstrom in a slow-motion manner where as it unravels, we see the warp and the weft on the way down. This is the male version of the maid, the matron and the crone – it’s the boy, the man and the sage and it gave me pause.
This show is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny with excellent performances of dynamic nuance, starting with Jeffrey M. Bender as Robert Shaw. Drama and comedy are as closely aligned as laughter and tears and Bender shows us Shaw’s flaws, love of the craft and the ingenuity of the addict in creativity of stash. Jason Babinsky’s Scheider is doing his best to calm the savage beasts around him. He’s seen a lot in his time on stage and screen and keeping his temper is a challenge with the angst all around him. Seen-it-all Shaw and Thinks-he’s-all Dreyfuss make Scheider’s balancing act that much more impressive. And just when Scheider thinks he’s going to get a moment for himself…well, see the show.
Max Wolkowitz’ Richard Dreyfuss seems like so many young actors during that time – balanced on the razor’s edge of fame and oblivion and nearly engulfed by the trappings of success. There’s a different kind of addiction at play and it’s not necessarily chemical. The three actors are expert characterizations of the JAWS actors in this vintage snapshot that could be a photo printed from 126 film. The last-century sense of self with a digital finale in an analog world left me with a lot to contemplate as I drove into the night.
The show runs through May 18 only, see this show and relive it all! Visit https://www.georgestreetplayhouse.org/events/detail/the-shark-is-broken for tickets today.