THE SHARK IS BROKEN
THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES new comedy about THE making of
the ICONIC BLOCKBUSTER JAWS
TO make waves on Broadway THIS SUMMER
★★★★ “A Theatrical-Cinematic Stroke of Genius” - The Telegraph
★★★★★ “Sensational fun!” - Sunday Express
★★★★ “Absolutely Spellbinding” - Daily Mail
★★★★★ “This play packs plenty of bite.” – Metro
★★★★★ “I was hooked! Ian Shaw gives one of the most exhilarating theatrical performances of the year.” - Evening Standard
★★★★★ “Did I mention waves? Get ready for this play to make some. Do they need a bigger boat? Actually, I think they are going to need a bigger theatre.” - The London Times
(New York, New York) Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landis are delighted to announce that the smash-hit play THE SHARK IS BROKEN will make waves on Broadway this summer after critically acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on London’s West End.
A new Olivier Award-nominated comedy by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, THE SHARK IS BROKEN imagines what happened on board “The Orca” when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster, JAWS. Co- writer Ian Shaw (War Horse) will also star in THE SHARK IS BROKEN, making his Broadway debut in the role he created in Edinburgh and on the West End, portraying his father Robert Shaw who played “Quint” in JAWS. Casting for the roles of Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss will be announced at a later date.
Directed by Guy Masterson, THE SHARK IS BROKEN begins performances on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at the John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street), and will officially open on Thursday, August 10, 2023, for a strictly limited 16-week engagement.
FADE IN: The open ocean, 1974. Production on JAWS is delayed…again. The film’s lead actors—theatre veteran Robert Shaw and young Hollywood hotshots, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider—are crammed into a too-small boat, entirely at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical co-star. Alcohol flows, egos collide, and tempers flare on a chaotic voyage that just might lead to cinematic magic…if it doesn’t sink them all.
From the JAWS of defeat, came a Hollywood victory.
THE SHARK IS BROKEN includes scenic and costume design by Duncan Henderson, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design and original music are by Adam Cork, video design by Nina Dunn, with casting by Jim Carnahan Casting.
The smash-hit of the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, THE SHARK IS BROKEN was steering a course to transfer to London’s West End but was postponed due to the pandemic. The “intoxicating combination of behind-the-scenes gossip and contemplation of the nature of popular art (The Stage ★★★★)” opened at the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre in 2021 where it garnered critical acclaim and an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Play, and by popular demand extended its limited run into 2022.
BIOGRAPHIES
Ian Shaw (Co-Writer, Robert Shaw) trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, having obtained a BA in American Studies at Sussex University. Theatre includes War Horse and Common (National Theatre); Widowers’ Houses, The Importance of Being Earnest, Nude with Violin, The Philadelphia Story, and The Brothers Karamazov (Manchester Royal Exchange); Three Sisters (Nuffield and Theatre Royal Bath); Private Lives and Closer (Birmingham Rep); The Rivals (Derby Playhouse and Philadelphia Walnut St); The Tempest (SRT) and Much Ado About Nothing in London’s West End. Television includes “Sharpe,” “Soldier, Soldier,” “Medics,” “Wuthering Heights,” “The Queen,” “Ghost Hour,” “Silent Witness,” “Cambridge Spies” and the Emmy award-winning “Hiroshima.” Film includes Century, Moondance, The Boys and Girl from County Clare, The Contract and Johnny English Reborn.
Joseph Nixon (Co-Writer) is the author (with Brian Mitchell) of the plays Those Magnificent Men (New Perspectives, 2010); Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks (The Foundry Group, 2011); Seven Studies in Salesmanship (The Foundry Group, 2013); and the musical The Opinion Makers (Mercury Theatre/Derby Theatre 2013.) He has written material for Joanna Neary, Jo Caulfield, Jerry Sadowitz, and Basil Brush.
Guy Masterson (Director) is a London based, multi-award-winning theatre producer & director with over 150 credits over 30 years. A 29-year veteran of the Edinburgh Festival, he has produced or directed many of its biggest hits including THE SHARK IS BROKEN in 2019 - which was subsequently produced in the West End in 2021 by Sonia Friedman Productions and received an Olivier Nomination for Best New Comedy. His 2009 production of Morecambe also transferred to the West End and won an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. His 2003 production of 12 Angry Men became the biggest grossing drama at Edinburgh - a record broken by his subsequent productions of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (starring Christian Slater), and The Odd Couple (with Bill Bailey and Alan Davies) which he also directed. Other acclaimed productions include Scaramouche Jones, Adolf, Austen’s Women, Absolution and Playing Burton (a solo play about his uncle, Richard Burton). Most recently, he co-directed an award-winning original musical, The Marvelous Elephant Man in Australia. Guy is also internationally renowned for his solo performances of Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm, Shylock and A Christmas Carol (which is to play in NYC over Christmas ‘23). His company, Theatre Tours International, remains the most awarded and nominated independent theatre company presenting at the Edinburgh Festival.
Duncan Henderson (Designer) Productions include Hangman (Two Bins Theatre Company), Bloodlines (Talia Randall), Betrayal, The Polished Scar, Underneath the Lintel (Pretty Villain Prods), Crave (Little Warrior Theatre Prods) and 9 Circle (Theatre Tours International).
Jon Clark (Lighting Design) is a Tony and Olivier award-winning designer. He has designed extensively for the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, in the West End, on Broadway and with many other companies internationally. Recent theatre: A Doll’s House (Broadway), The Motive and The Cue (National); The Lehman Trilogy, Betrayal, The Inheritance, King Charles III (Broadway & West End); Cyrano de Bergerac (BAM & West End). Recent Opera: Hamlet, The Exterminating Angel (Metropolitan Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor, Written on Skin (Covent Garden).
Adam Cork (Sound Design and Original Music) has written mainly for the stage, blending original composition with sound design to create integrated music/sound scores for many celebrated productions. Adam’s musical London Road (co- authored with Alecky Blythe) premiered at the National Theatre in 2011, won the 2011 Critic’s Circle Award ‘Best Musical’, was nominated for the 2012 Olivier Award ‘Best Musical’, and a film version was released in 2015 (BBC Films/Cuba pictures). In 2010 he received a Tony Award for the music and sound score for Red (Donmar/Broadway), and an Olivier Award in 2011 for King Lear (Donmar), also receiving the Evening Standard ‘Best Design’ Award 2011 for Anna Christie and King Lear (Donmar). In 2010 he was nominated for the Tony Award ‘Best Score’ (Music & Lyrics) for Enron (Broadway/West End). Other theatre includes: Leopoldstadt (Wyndham’s/Longacre) Patriots (Almeida/West End); The Hunt (Almeida), Ink (Almeida/Duke of York’s/MTC); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Harold Pinter); Travesties (Menier Chocolate Factory/Apollo/American Airlines Theatre); No Man’s Land (Wyndham’s); Les Blancs, Three Days In The Country, Phedre, (National); Hughie (Booth Theatre); Photograph 51, Henry V (Noël Coward); Frost/Nixon (Gielgud/Jacobs), Hamlet (Donmar/Broadhurst Theatre); Ivanov (Donmar/Wyndham’s); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong/Gielgud); Richard II, A Streetcar Named Desire , The Chalk Garden, Othello, Creditors, The Wild Duck, Caligula (Donmar); Don Carlos (Gielgud); Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest (RSC); Suddenly Last Summer (West End); Paradise Lost (Headlong). Adam is an Associate Artist of the RSC. Television includes Scores for The Hollow Crown: “Richard II,” “Macbeth” and “Frances Tuesday.” Film includes Scores for London Road, Genius, Hamlet, Macbeth. Radio includes Losing Rosalind, The Luneberg Variation (BBC Radio 4), The Colonel-Bird (BBC World Service), Don Carlos, Othello, On the Ceiling, The Chalk Garden (all BBC Radio 3).
Nina Dunn (Video Design) has designed Video & Projections for a wide range of shows, working internationally and spanning Theatre, Opera, Dance, Musical Theatre, Immersive, Fashion, Opening Ceremonies, Live Events and Public Art And is the Creative Director at PixelLux. She is also an educator within her industry. Work for theatre includes: Bonnie & Clyde, City of Angels, No Man’s Land, Cookies (West End); Spitting Image Live (The Rep); The Trials (Donmar Warehouse); 9 to 5 The Musical (West End, UK and Australian Tour); Othello, Manor, Emperor & Galilean (National Theatre); The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Lazuli Sky (Birmingham Royal Ballet); Seven Deadly Sins, Bluebeard’s Castle (Teatro Colón Buenos Aires); A Christmas Carol (Nottingham Playhouse / Alexandra Palace); A Museum in Baghdad, Venice Preserved, Miss Littlewood, The Seven Acts of Mercy, Volpone (RSC); Hamlet, The Mountaintop (Young Vic); Extinct (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Shedding a Skin (Soho Theatre); Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella (Imagine Theatre); Plenty, Copenhagen, Fiddler on the Roof, Forty Years On (CFT); L’Orfeo, Der Freischütz, Macbeth (Wiener Staatsoper); Spring Gala (ROH); Phantom of the Opera (Cameron Mackintosh, UK, US and Australian tour); The Rocky Horror Show (European tour), Armstrong and Miller Live (Hat Trick). Awards include Best Video Design for Bonnie & Clyde (Broadway World UK), Best Video and Electronic Content for Alice’s Adventures Underground (Knight of Illumination), Best Design for Cinderella and Beauty and The Beast (UK Pantomime Awards) and a nomination for Best Video Design for THE SHARK IS BROKEN (WhatsOnStage).
JIM CARNAHAN, CSA (Casting) has cast over 150 Broadway shows. Broadway: Leopoldstadt; A Beautiful Noise; Almost Famous; New York, New York; Funny Girl; Harry Potter; Moulin Rouge! Off-Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along, Little Shop of Horrors. London: Eureka Day, Best of Enemies. Upcoming film: Ari Aster’s Disappointment Blvd.
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