A PRODUCTION celebrating movie history and which peeks at the choppy waters behind Hollywood’s first blockbuster comes to Plymouth’s Theatre Royal this spring.

Inspired by Robert Shaw’s experience playing ‘Quint’ in Jaws, The Shark Is Broken is the brilliantly funny play which celebrates movie history as it imagines what happened on board ‘The Orca’ when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Steven Spielberg’s epic movie, which this year celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.

The play explores the three actors' boredom, arguments, and stories told aboard the boat during the weeks of filming delays caused by Bruce - the mechanical shark used in the film that was constantly breaking down.

Ian Shaw reprises his West End role starring as his father, Robert Shaw (Quint) , alongside Dan Fredenburgh as Roy Scheider (Chief Brody in the film) and Ashley Margolis as Richard Dreyfuss (shark expert Matt Hooper).

Following its critical and sell-out success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, The Shark Is Broken transferred to the West End in 2021 playing at the Ambassadors Theatre for a limited season where it enjoyed an extended run due to huge popular demand and an Olivier award nomination for Best Comedy Play.

In July 2023 the production transferred to Broadway for a 16-week run at the John Golden Theatre where it garnered fresh critical acclaim.

Martha Geelan directs the tour of The Shark Is Broken, based on original direction by Guy Masterson, with set and costume design by Duncan Henderson, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Adam Cork, video design by Nina Dunn. The assistant director Molly Stacey while associate sound designer is James Melling.

Tickets for the production, which runs from March 31 to April 5, can be booked at the venue’s website https://theatreroyal.com.