At Springs Ensemble Theatre, actors portray actors in a comic blast from cinema’s past.

Can’t get enough of the 1975 film Jaws? Take a deep dive into its making with a behind-the-scenes play, The Shark is Broken, running through Sept. 14 at the Springs Ensemble Theatre (SET).

The play focuses the last half of the film’s shoot, on the water off Martha’s Vineyard, on the deck of the Orca. Spielberg’s lead characters — Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw — are in and out of character as filming stalls with repairs to the mechanical shark. However, the playwrights cleverly pause the hunt and turn a keen eye to the prickly friction between the actors portraying a salty captain, neurotic oceanographer and arrogant police chief. (One of the writers, Ian Shaw, is the son of Robert Shaw.)

Three fine SET actors successfully channel the iconic actors from looks to mannerisms and dialect with provocative banter amid drinking and gambling. They brawl, bloviate and bicker like real actors vying for center stage.

Colin Gregory nails the persona of Richard Dreyfuss as the young, self-absorbed scientist Matt Hooper. “They can put a man on the moon, but they can’t make a mechanical fish,” Gregory quips with the dark, dry wit of classic Dreyfuss.

Gregory’s on-stage physicality captures the actor’s restless bravado perfectly. Twitchy movements, punctuated with sardonic words amp things up as the trio battle boredom in close quarters.

His biting barbs scream privilege, catching the ire of the grizzled Captain Quint, who hunts sharks with a passion anchored in his own trauma. Steve Emily more than fills the big boots of actor Robert Shaw. He is crass and drunk, then retreating and pathetic. His emotions run the gamut, as do his colorful and voluminous lines, all with raw credibility.

Emily is a founding member of SET, now in its 16^th season, and appeared in the Ensemble’s first show Talk Radio. He was recently in Annapurna for which he received a Henry Award for Best Actor.

Rounding out the cast is Matt Radcliffe as Amity Island’s Police Chief Martin Brody. With the looks, stance and gait of Jaws’ Roy Scheider, Radcliffe was made for the role. He presents Brody as pragmatic and practical yet brisk and sharp as the peacemaker stifling the strife that erupts between Dreyfuss and Shaw.

Currently SET’s president, Radcliffe has cut his acting chops on local stages with over 60 shows, earning Colorado Henry Award nominations in both acting and directing. Fret not, Jaws junkies, you will not leave disappointed as Brody spews his classic line, “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Reflections of the larger film are laced throughout the clever play.

Aboard the ‘Orca’ in ‘The Shark is Broken.’ | Photo: Emory John Collinson

Blast from the past

Much of the show’s humor is rooted in 21st century hindsight. Opening night’s audience was in stitches at the story’s mention of Nixon certainly being the worst president in history. We also hear of the disgruntled actors’ collective view that Jaws would be a flop at the box office.

The SET trio are in perfect synch. They are three actors playing men who are actors with dueling egos, yet powerless against a mechanical shark nicknamed “Bruce” who remains unseen throughout the production. And what stagecraft as the play’s creative team navigates to bring the audience aboard the Orca.

The lights ebb and flow to suggest the passage of time. We hear waves, the boat’s motor and muted shouts from the film crew offstage. There are snippets of the foreboding music that signal the shark’s presence, garnering chuckles from the audience.

The simple set is the paneled interior of the weathered boat deck with a sky-blue backdrop — amateurish and simple to showcase the unfolding story behind the filming of a problematic shoot.

It is the actors, the delivery of their lines, embodiment of their characters and brilliant representation of the famous trio that makes SET’s Shark worth the watch.

Tensions run high on the set of ‘Jaws.’ | Photo: Emory John Collinson