A Theatrical, Behind-the-Scenes Peek at the Filming of ‘Jaws’

During the filming of Jaws, actors Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, and Roy Scheider spent days in the cramped cabin of the film’s fishing boat (the Orca), waiting for the mechanical shark to work so they could shoot their scenes. This is the setup for Ensemble Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’sThe Shark is Broken, which follows the rising tension between the three actors as boredom, frustration, and neuroses take their toll.

Despite the actors’ annoyance with the situation, says Director Pesha Rudnick, their on-screen chemistry became the beating heart of the film. “The chemistry among the people in the room, the people making the piece of art,” she says, “always affects the outcome.” 

Will Block, who plays Richard Dreyfuss, notes that his character and Robert Shaw didn’t get along. “They continued to have escalating tension throughout the shoot that was exacerbated by the fact they were stuck together,” he says. “In some ways, it illustrates one of my favorite things about being an actor — you’re constantly being air-dropped into new places, you often don’t know anybody that you’re working with, and you have to quickly create a family unit.”

For the stage, Set Designer Fred Kinney has created an open, side-view replica of the Orca, which Block describes as the fourth character in the play. “It’s about their relationship with each other,” Block says, “but also their relationship with the environment. The fact that they are literally not able to escape is the engine of the story.”

“The shark is broken” has become a phrase used in situations of malfunctioning equipment, but in terms of Jaws, it prompted more nuanced ways to scare the audience. “Spielberg did it with music, he did it with the three buoys,” says Rudnick. “His brilliance was because the shark was broken.” 

See The Shark is Broken at the New Vic February 4-22. See etcsb.org.