INTERVIEW: Director Peter Flynn takes a bite out of ‘The Shark Is Broken’
Photo: From left, Max Wolkowitz, Jason Babinsky and Jeffrey M. Bender star in The Shark Is Broken at the George Street Playhouse. Photo courtesy of T. Charles Erickson / Provided by Print Shop PR with permission.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Ever since its West End and Broadway premieres, the play The Shark Is Broken, which details the making of the summer blockbuster Jaws, has proved to be a success on the regional theater scene. Perhaps the interest of staging this three-hander in 2025 is tied to the original movie celebrating its 50th anniversary next month. Throughout the country The Shark Is Broken, featuring the characters of Robert Shaw (Quint in the movie), Roy Scheider (Brody) and Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper), can be found pulling into harbor and selling out performances.
The George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is currently enjoying a healthy run of the play, which was written by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw, Robert’s real-life son. This production is directed by Peter Flynn and stars Jason Babinsky as Scheider, Jeffrey M. Bender as Shaw and Max Wolkowitz as Dreyfuss. Performances continue through Sunday, May 18.
“I love a play that is an ensemble-based play,” Flynn said in a recent phone interview. “I love a play that has three or more people trying to work something out together, and I think this play trades on being a funny, inside look at the gossipy scoop of how these three men tried to get along. But at the base of it, they are each really compelled, whether they know it or not, to work out some very personal stuff with each other and sometimes because of each other.”
In the show, the character of Shaw comes to terms with his excessive drinking, while the Dreyfuss character is a bundle of energy who is perpetually worried about his aspiring acting career. Scheider is stuck in the middle, pulled between both extremes and trying to catch a few rays of the sun in the Martha’s Vineyard summer.
“It was a big topic of conversation for us in the room,” the director said. “I would continually say, ‘Remember these men did not intend to have this conversation. They stumbled upon this conversation. They’re surprised by this conversation. They’re uncomfortable with this conversation.’ Nothing is sentimental or predictable. I even said to Jeff, who plays Shaw, he has that phrase right after he reveals some stuff about his alcoholism, he says, ‘Well, we’re seeming like we have a real heart to heart here.’ I said, ‘He doesn’t like that. That is not him confirming that he’s enjoying what’s happening.’ I think he’s a little embarrassed that the spotlight has been on him for so long, and so that really, really turned me on as a director. On the one hand, yes, this is going to be fun, and we all know these personalities from the outside. But what are we discovering with them in an environment they never expected to spend this much time in?”
In the rehearsal room, Flynn talked with his actors about the unlikely brotherhood amongst these characters. Shaw is the older and wiser actor, while Dreyfuss is the younger, naive actor. Scheider has had success in his career and is still chasing the good reviews.
“There’s somebody who is just at the dawn of his career,” Flynn explained. “There’s somebody else that’s sort of on the eve of his career, and there’s someone right smack in the middle who really doesn’t know what’s going to happen with his career. And so to watch how the dialogue impacts each other was really fascinating, too.”
It becomes obvious when watching GSP’s The Shark Is Broken that Spielberg cast the movie Jaws perfectly because there are traces of the actors in the characters they are asked to portray. Flynn recognized this as well and leaned into the connections.
“I think there’s some truth and some validity to Scheider, who in this play says, ‘I think Spielberg is interested in authenticity. I don’t think he’s interested in big stars.’ And I think that’s true,” the director said. “I think that Spielberg really does look for people who are reminiscent or indicative of the character so that the story really stays the focus. My wife is a Broadway and TV actress, and she was in the remake of West Side Story with Spielberg. And she said, ‘His way with an actor in the room is very much like a theater director and just is about the narrative, and why do you think your character is here, and what part of the story is your character serving.’ And so like it or not, for the actor’s ego, I think Spielberg really does cast for a type that bolsters the story he’s trying to tell.”
Flynn counts himself among the legions of fans of Jaws. He has watched the blockbuster his entire life, and he actually caught the shark movie in theaters when it was first released 50 years ago. He introduced the film to his wife and and son, and he continually watches it for fun. And for this project, he viewed the movie three times for inspiration.
One of the most impressive parts of this 90-minute work at the George Street Playhouse is the set of the Orca ship, which dominates the stage. It swivels around a carousel and sits in front of a projection of the open ocean. The set was designed by Anne Mundell, with lighting design by Alan C. Edwards. Projection design comes courtesy of Adam J. Thompson.
“It was months in the planning,” Flynn said of the set. “Anne Mundell is one of my favorite set designers. We’ve worked together a few times before, and she brought Adam with her who is the projector designer. And then Alan Edwards, who is the lighting designer, is someone with whom I’ve made about a dozen shows now. So the four of us really for months ahead had a conversation about what is the world of this play, and, of course, we started with, well, it’s these three men in an existential crisis environmentally. They can’t go anywhere. It’s very Waiting for Godot or very Pinter-esque.”
Flynn added: “The fourth character is the sea. We have to know that that sea is going to cause things. It’s going to facilitate things, and so how do we make that point without directly pointing at it? So it was Adam who said, ‘Well, if we do a [backdrop] that goes from proscenium to proscenium and wrap it around, then you’re really enveloping the boat in the world of the ocean and the sky. There’s nothing but sea and sky.’ And then Anne and I said, sort of simultaneously, ‘Well, what if that boat revolves as well?’ And then we realized we had a win-win-win. … One secret I’ll give away is when the boat revolves, the projection is rarely doing the same thing. The boat is either going to go clockwise or counterclockwise, which for our geography is left to right and right to left. The projections are always either going from the back of the sky to us in the front or vice versa, so we’re really creating a rather nauseating experience of movement much like being on the sea.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Shark Is Broken, directed by Peter Flynn, continues through Sunday, May 18, at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
