THE SHARK IS BROKEN Bites Mechanically — Review
6 / 10
The problem is that I’ve just essentially described the plot of the film itself, which makes watching this somewhat of an exercise in cinematic foreplay: I couldn’t wait to go home and watch Spielberg’s masterpiece. Here, art imitating life imitating art is a hindrance. The performances are great, Duncan Henderson’s recreation of the Orca fishing boat visually compelling, and Guy Masterson’s direction is lively enough. But, like the shark itself, the play’s essential functions scarcely work — save for the few scenes in which the three men, caught in an epochal shift in acting and celebrity, wax poetic about the fall of fathers, the impotence of sons, and the rolling tides of art. That’s when the play finds its bite. Otherwise, with its slavish recreations of the production’s details and Brightman’s (as required) over-hamming, it feels like an SNL skit waiting for its punchline.
