YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The characters Quint, Hooper and Chief Brody from “Jaws” are very different from each other.

So were the actors who played them in the 1975 blockbuster film.

The three – Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider – were plagued by long delays when filming the movie because the mechanical shark kept breaking.

Those delays brought out the shark in each actor.

A newish play called “The Shark Is Broken” goes behind the scenes during that frustrating film shoot. Its regional premiere will open Friday at the Playhouse Downtown theater. 

Brendan Boyle is the director of the three-man cast.

John Cox plays Shaw, who has the role of Quint, the tough old salt who leads the attack on a killer shark.

Chuck Kettering plays Dreyfuss, who has the role of hotheaded young oceanographer Hooper.

Corban Baker plays Scheider, who has the role of Brody, the local police chief who teams up with the two on the shark hunt.

The three had to spend interminable hours bobbing along on a small boat off Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., during the shoot, waiting for the mechanical shark to be fixed. They spent the time drinking and clashing with each other.

The actors were a lot like their characters –  which became obvious during the downtime.

Shaw was a classically trained and seasoned English actor. Dreyfuss was an ambitious young upstart with few credits. Scheider was an established veteran tasked with keeping the peace.

“The Shark Is Broken” was written by Ian Shaw, who is the son of Robert Shaw, and Joseph Nixon.

It premiered in 2019 in England, receiving a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Entertainment of Comedy, and opened on Broadway in 2023.

Setting the Scene

Boyle, the director, said the show has a simple premise, but it goes beyond comedy.

“‘Jaws’ was a notoriously tough movie to shoot,” he said. “[Director Steven] Spielberg decided to film it on the open ocean off of Martha’s Vineyard, which had never been done before. And the mechanical shark, which was named Bruce, was perpetually broken, which resulted in a lot of downtime where these three actors were stuck on a small boat with nothing better to do than talk, play games, drink, argue and drink some more.”

That sets the scene for comedy, but there are also some serious and heartfelt moments between the actors, Boyle noted.

Anybody who has seen “Jaws” will have a head start when watching the play, and the actors will look the part – right down to Quint’s sideburns.

“It will feel so familiar to audiences,” Boyle said. “The characters will look familiar. But, of course, we’re not watching Quint, Hooper and Brody, but the famous actors who portrayed them. That makes it accessible for audiences who know the film, but the story itself will still surprise you.”

The off-camera interactions between the three actors is the key dynamic.

“The relationship between Shaw and Dreyfuss is tense, as Shaw is really hard on him throughout the show,” Boyle said. “And Scheider is forced to sort of be this referee. You can see the parallels between their personalities and the characters they portrayed in the movie.” 

The script is filled with references to the film that fans who have seen the movie multiple times might catch.

“There are so many, and they’re often so subtle that we’re still finding some just weeks before opening,” Boyle said.

But even those who have never seen “Jaws” will get the humor, thanks to the cast.

“John, Chuck and Corban are absolutely perfect in their parts and have such great chemistry that it’s funny and entertaining even if you’d never even heard of ‘Jaws’,” he said.

The fact that the play was co-written by the son of Robert Shaw adds a father-son theme. At one point, the characters share stories about their own fathers while waiting for the shark to be fixed.

“It’s fitting that we open Father’s Day weekend,” Boyle said. “It’s a great show to bring any dad in your life to come see.”

Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. June 19-20 and 26-27 and 2:30 p.m. June 21 and 28. Click HERE for tickets.

The Playhouse Downtown is at 220 W. Boardman St.

Pictured at top: Chuck Kettering, Corban Baker and John Cox in a scene from “The Shark Is Broken.”