‘The Nerd’ is awkwardly fun at The Snug
MARINE CITY, Mich.–The Snug Theatre in Marine City is offering up yet another night of laughs with The Nerd, a comedy by Larry Shue and directed by Brittany Everitt Smith.
The Nerd is a classic lesson in “be careful what you wish for.” Main character Willum (Casey S. Hibbert) leads a rather non-descript life as an architect, never quite bold enough to declare his true feelings for his friend Tansy (Katy Kujala Cronin), and never quite as hip as his friend Axel (Matthew Wallace). Willum has been hired to design a hotel, a job which bores him because the hotel owner wants the plainest building possible.
Willum’s life takes a turn when he receives a call from Rick Steadman, announcing a surprise visit. Willum has never actually met Rick, but owes him a debt: Rick saved Willum’s life in Vietnam, and Willum has extended an open invitation to Rick to visit any time.
Rick (Chase LePla) arrives with both awkward timing and an awkward impression. Willum is entertaining his boss “Ticky” Waldgrave (Dale Dobson), Waldgrave’s wife Clelia (Belinda Hellebuyk) and his young son Thor (Dylan Davenport). And Rick is immediately pegged by everyone as—well, a nerd: a bumbling, awkward, intrusive weirdo who inspects chalk for a living, and manages to annoy and alienate everyone, turning the dinner party into something of a disaster.
The disaster only gets worse when Willum realizes Rick plans to stay—indefinitely. Every day becomes a new adventure in irritation and embarrassment for Willum, but he cannot find the nerve to tell the man who saved his life to take a hike. Axel and Tansy help him craft a plan to make Rick want to leave; of course the plan backfires, and the three must up their game to get rid of Rick once and for all, which is where the hilarity hits its high point. Imagine pigs snorting cottage cheese, and pagan rituals that sound like high school pep assembly cheers.
Their ruse is a failure, but Rick causes one final disaster that spurs Willum to order him out. In the moments following Rick’s departure, Willum learns something important about himself that helps him make a new start in life. Only after Willum’s breakthrough do we learn about Rick’s motive for visiting in the first place.
Although The Nerd could be adapted to take place in any time period, this play takes place in the late 1970s, and the set takes the audience to that era immediately, with an orange metal fireplace, modern asymmetrical windows and (ugh) an orange, gold and green afghan. Even audience members too young to recognize the décor style can hardly fail to notice the velvet suit and unbuttoned polyester shirt donned by Axel, or the plaid pants and leather vest he appears in later.
The cast works well together as an ensemble, and most of the scenes involve three or more characters. They play well off each other and their timing is just about ideal. The biggest standout performance is by LePla as Rick, who completely embodies nerdiness and awkwardness with his verbal tics and rather repulsive mannerisms and habits. The other performance to watch is Wallace as Axel; although his character is colorful and immodest when in the spotlight, his stealthy, silent performance in the background of scenes is just entertaining.
The humor and situations in The Nerd will entertain most everyone from adolescent to adult (though be warned: the irate and red-faced Mr. Waldgrave curses easily). The ridiculous antics of Rick and the way they affect the rest of the characters will elicit laughs from all.
The Nerd is playing at The Snug in Marine City through April 29, 2018.