In the Belly of the Beast
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The Shark is Broken Takes a Bite Out of the Summer Doldrums
By Tina Wyngate
German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is famously quoted as saying, “Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made.” Some question that attribution, but the sentiment remains astute: often it’s best not to see how things are actually made and just enjoy the finished product. This holds true for films. Like politics, moviemaking can be messy.
One of the funnier jokes in The Shark is Broken is when its characters wonder if the film they are making – JAWS – will ever be anything more than a flash-in-the-pan summer disaster flick. “No one will remember this movie in 50 years,” says actor Iain Batchelor to his colleagues Adam Poole and Wesley Slade. Together this trio takes on the roles of the Hollywood actors who starred in JAWS – Batchelor as Robert Shaw, Poole as Roy
Scheider, and Page as Richard Dreyfuss – which went on to become one of the highest grossing and best-known movies in cinema history.
What makes The Shark is Broken so much fun is the idea that you’re watching what supposedly happened behind-the-scenes between the three stars who brought Peter Benchley’s novel JAWS to life. One big problem was the large mechanical shark used by director Steven Spielberg that kept breaking, forcing endless delays that kept the actors hanging out together aboard the Orca for more hours – and more days – than they bargained for.
The resulting infighting between Batchelor as the cantankerous Shaw and Page as the whiny self-centered Dreyfuss, is what gives the play its animus, with a fastidious Poole as Scheider, the peace maker. If you have ever disliked Richard Dreyfuss as a person or as an actor, then this play is for you. The insults hurled at the Dreyfuss character are some of the funniest moments of the play.
Through bouts of drinking and card playing, the bored actors reveal their various personal adversities, making themselves all the more vulnerable to the inevitable squabbles and slights that come from three men trapped together in the oceanic equivalent to cabin fever.
I am not sure if there is a lesson here, except that we all carry the baggage of childhood traumas and less than exemplary parenting. Nonetheless, The Shark is Broken is an amusing antidote to the doldrums of summer. The acting is first rate, worthy of a standing ovation. Batchelor is stellar as the incarnation of Robert Shaw.
If you plan to see only one live performance this summer, The Shark is Broken is the way to go. Artistic director David Arisco has created yet another theatrical sparkler for the entertainment of Gables theatergoers.
“The Shark Is Broken” by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon
Location:
Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Balcony Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables
Showtimes:
July 31, 2026 | 8:00 PM
August 01, 2026 | 8:00 PM
August 02, 2026 | 3:00 PM
August 05, 2026 | 8:00 PM
August 06, 2026 | 8:00 PM
August 07, 2026 | 8:00 PM
August 08, 2026 | 8:00 PM
August 09, 2026 | 3:00 PM
Tickets:
$40, $50, $60, $70, $75, $80 and $95 (Prices Vary)