The Shark Is Broken is a comedic stage play written by British playwrights Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon. The play is inspired by behind-the-scenes drama that took place during the filming of the iconic 1975 film, which starred Shaw's father, Robert Shaw, as well as Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss. The playwright portrays his own father in the production, which was filmed during its recent tour of the UK and Ireland at the Lighthouse in Poole on April 30 and May 1, 2025, starring Ian Shaw, Ashley Margolis, and Dan Fredenburgh. The play originally premiered at the Rialto Theatre in Brighton, England, before transferring to the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Its West End premiere at the Ambassadors Theatre in 2021 earned a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play. It subsequently made its North American premiere at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, in 2022, before opening at Broadway’s Golden Theatre in August 2023.
BroadwayHD is exclusively streaming THE SHARK IS BROKEN, direct from Broadway and the West End, where it earned an Olivier Award nomination for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play, The Shark is Broken a “profound dive behind the scenes of the making of Jaws” (The Daily Telegraph,★★★★) brings the laughs beginning October 16.