By J.E. Ballantyne Jr.
Most people remember the 1975 film “Jaws,” which has become a phenomenon since it was released. Starring Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider, the film was never thought to be the blockbuster that it has become over the years.
The thriller of a gigantic shark terrorizing a beach in New England drew audiences to it during its original release, and it has only grown in popularity the older the film gets. Well, the Youngstown Playhouse took advantage of that popularity when it presented the area premiere of “The Shark is Broken” by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon on Friday night at the Playhouse Downtown.
This production also introduced local audiences to the newly renovated downtown theater once inhabited by The Oakland Center for the Arts on West Boardman Street. Complete with a new paint job, lobby furniture and Brandy’s Shark Bar offering creative cocktails with a sharky twist, the show opened to an enthusiastic sell-out crowd.
“The Shark is Broken” is not the movie “Jaws.” Rather, it focuses on the behind-the-scenes escapades of the three leading men mentioned above and how they filled their time while the mechanical shark in the film, named Bruce, was less interested in making a movie and more interested in uncooperative relaxation.
With a four-week shooting schedule for the film stretching into eight weeks and beyond, the three actors passed the time playing cards, drinking, playing coin games, more drinking and letting their egos and temperaments get the best of them. The biggest star of the trio, at the time, was Robert Shaw. A classically trained English actor with Shakespeare and numerous films under his belt, he was teamed with Richard Dreyfuss, a relatively new Hollywood upstart and Roy Scheider, a seasoned actor but certainly not a household name.
Actors are notoriously egotistical individuals, and when you team these three actors on the same stage with the actors who portray them, John Cox, Chuck Kettering and Corban Baker, you need a bigger stage to house all of the egos bouncing off the walls. It plays well on the intimate new downtown stage but could also have been done on the Playhouse mainstage.
This is an ensemble piece that has all three actors on stage for the entire 90 minute performance, with no intermission. Kettering mounts one of his best performances as Dreyfuss. Not only does he resemble him to a great degree, thanks to a beard, makeup and glasses, but he has got Dreyfuss down to a “T.” His line delivery, the sound of his voice and even his numerous frantic gesturing make for a stunning portrayal of the lesser-known actor at that time. This was prior to his biggest break in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Kettering is a marvel to watch as he literally steps into the persona of Dreyfuss and pulls off the acting, which sells the character 200% to the audience. And he never lets down. As you watch him, you can relate to the real Dreyfuss performances in other films since “Jaws.” Plus, the smoothness of transitions from frustration to comedy to drama are all handled seamlessly.
Cox takes on the role of Robert Shaw. Shaw is the most complex character in the piece as he has more layers and sides than do the other two characters. And Cox explores every layer and every inch of Shaw’s character with precision. Like a pathologist, Cox dissects the inner workings of Shaw and lays them all out there.
From his bawdy sense of humor to his sharp barbs at Dreyfuss to his sentimentality, Cox is easily the focal character in the play. His British accent combined with a striking resemblance to Shaw, again, thanks to excellently executed makeup, makes the audience lose the sense of Cox the actor and brings into sharp focus Shaw the actor as though he is really who you are watching. His ease of immersing himself into the role, along with what seems like an effortless performance, combine to make this one of Cox’s best performances. Transitions are critical to this character as he glides quickly between various emotions, which Cox handles with ease, even musing, as Shaw, that no one will remember this trifle of a film in 50 years.
The third and final character, Roy Scheider, is played by Baker. Scheider is perhaps the least bombastic of the three characters, and sometimes the character gets lost in the shuffle as the other two go at each other tooth and nail for much of the show. Although Baker gives a good performance, I continually had trouble buying him in the role of Scheider. Many times he came off as more of a storyteller than he did as a character in the play. Perhaps this was partially due to the strong character natures of Dreyfuss and Shaw.
I wouldn’t say Baker did anything poorly and that he didn’t give a good acting performance, but his portrayal seemed to be of a lesser dimension than that of the other two. I think this may come down to the creation of the character of Scheider in the play. Whereas the characters of both Shaw and Dreyfuss have attributes of their own personalities in the roles they play in the film, that is not so much the case with Scheider. His character in the film, Brody, is far less attached to Scheider’s own personality than are the other two, at least as his character is portrayed in the play. Thus, Scheider seems to be on the outside looking in during many instances in “Shark.” That doesn’t say that Baker gives a poor performance – he does not. It just detaches his character from the others in many instances.
First-time director Brendan Boyle has done a great job with a script that rings of familiarity on many levels with many people. The pacing is fast and helps to add to the realism of the entire situation. Dialogue flies fast from the beginning, so it may take a few minutes for the audience as a whole to grab on for the ride.
Boyle’s conceptual design for the show was very well handled. Scenic design by Jack Hanna depicting the boat in the film, The Orca, is well done and serves the show well, combined with lighting by Ellen Licitra. Effective entrances and exits add to the realism of bobbing around in the ocean. Add to that a well executed sound design by Johnny Pecano and you are spending an engrossing 90 minutes at Martha’s Vineyard. Costumes by Brendan Boyle and Pete Sherman lock in well to the film and help sell those characters to the audience.
Whether you have seen the film “Jaws” or not, you should enjoy this production. It has ample amounts of humor, along with some drama sprinkled in here and there. Plus, there are great moments of sentimentality that are particularly poignant for Father’s Day. The new downtown theater space is a great new venue for the Playhouse, so come on out and catch this before the shark starts to work again.
“The Shark is Broken” will continue June 20, 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m. and June 21 and 28 at 2:30 p.m.
Note: The play contains adult language.
Pictured at top: Chuck Kettering, Corban Baker and John Cox in a scene from “The Shark Is Broken.”