In Vagabond Players’ production of 'The Shark Is Broken,' Andy Belt stars as Richard Dreyfuss, Doug Krehbel plays the actor Robert Shaw and Matthew Lindsay Payne plays Roy Scheider. The play, co-written by Ian Shaw, who observed the filming of the movie 'Jaws,' had a brief run on Broadway in 2023, when Ian played his father, Robert Shaw. Photo by Shealyn Jae Photography

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Half a century ago, theaters across the U.S. filled to capacity to watch a film about a giant man-eating shark that terrorizes a summer resort town in New England.

The movie Jaws followed a series of similar disaster-themed films like The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure and Earthquake, all with a simple formula: something terrible (fire, flipped ship, shaking ground) befalls people, several stalwart souls come together to save the day and each other. The End.

Well, turns out Jaws was not just another deliver-us-from-bad-things flick. In fact, it gave birth to the whole notion of “summer blockbusters,” changing Hollywood forever.

But if you asked Jaws stars Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw at the time if they thought they were making cinematic history, they’d have responded with an expletive-laced “ya gotta be (bleeping) kidding!”

That’s the premise of Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s play, The Shark Is Broken, a humorous and touching look at these three iconic actors as they endured nine weeks of filming aboard the Orca, a decaying wooden lobster boat, on Menemsha Channel near Martha’s Vineyard in 1974.

And Ian Shaw ought to know. The son of Robert Shaw, Ian was on the set of his father’s film as a child, and it is his memories that formed the basis of the script.

The elder Shaw died just three years after the movie came out. Ian Shaw co-wrote the play, which premiered in England in 2019. In a limited run on Broadway in 2023, Ian Shaw played the role of his father.

The Shark Is Broken is no “behind the scenes” documentary, however. Shaw and Nixon have fashioned a dramedy of sorts that mixes laughs with poignant moments, such as the alcoholic senior Shaw’s determination to both write and then deliver one of the most powerful moments in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film.

Three strong actors

Which brings us to the three-man ensemble who spend this 90-minute Vagabond Players production on a set made to resemble the galley of the Orca where Shaw, as Quint, delivers his harrowing tale of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis at the close of World War II.

Andy Belt (Dreyfuss), Doug Krehbel (R. Shaw) and Matthew Lindsay Payne (Scheider) are exemplary in their performances.

Belt portrays Dreyfuss as a self-doubting, fame-obsessed young actor, seeking the role that will catapult him to stardom. Belt seems to draw on ‘70s-era Woody Allen in his cadence and delivery, and it works well. A scene where Belt portrays Dreyfuss imitating both Shaw and Scheider was not only perhaps the funniest moment in the play, but a tribute to Belt’s skills as an actor.

Krehbel’s Shaw uses his height to his advantage, towering over Belt’s Dreyfuss, a physical reminder of Shaw’s status as a well-established and respected English actor whom we learn was a friend of Nobel Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter — a plot point which makes for a running joke in the play.

Krehbel does not try to imitate Shaw as much as he tries to inhabit Shaw’s essence — a man in pain who lost his father by suicide when he was a boy, seeking escape on stage and in a whiskey bottle. As one character notes, how much of Shaw is the character Quint? Through Krehbel’s performance, we find they may indeed have had much in common.

While Krehbel and Belt spar over the absurdity of acting as a profession and who can scoot a coin across a table the farthest without it falling off, Payne plays Scheider as a calming influence between the two. Payne’s Scheider sets himself apart from his cohorts, almost always sitting in a corner of the galley, finding refuge in daily newspaper headlines and sunbathing on the ship’s deck.

Well-paced play

Stephen M. Deininger does a masterful job as the play’s director, keeping a sprightly pace with telling pieces of music to transition between scenes. Whether through his efforts or just the natural talents of the actors, there is excellent chemistry between these three men on stage as their characters explore the nature of their roles and each other.

One is reminded a bit of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, only in this case, Godot is a broken, three-ton, 25-foot mechanical shark named Bruce.

Will they need a bigger boat? The better question is, will they need a bigger theater? Sell-outs are definitely warranted given the caliber of this fine production.

The Shark Is Broken continues its run at the Vagabond Players theater, 806 S. Broadway in downtown Baltimore, now through Feb. 1, 2026. For tickets, cast and show information, visit vagabondplayers.org or call (410) 563-9135.