THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 31, 1995 TAG: 9503290139
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY MONTAGUE GAMMON III, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
The Little Theatre of Portsmouth is taking a calm, almost low-keyed approach to the antic comedy, ``The Nerd.'' The effect is to let Larry Shue's very funny lines stand, unencumbered, on their own merits.
The plot follows one week in the life of a singularly, unassertive young architect, played by Portsmouth stalwart Adam Ivey. Willum Cubbert - the characters have names that are unusual, to say the least - is suddenly visited by the man who saved his life in Vietnam but whom he had never met.
The company of the benefactor, Rick Steadman, turns into a living nightmare. Steadman, given a crowd-pleasing performance by Bill Abrams, is foolish, boorish and overbearing. He latches onto his host like a parasite.
Each time it seems that Steadman has done all the harm he can possibly do, each time his repertoire of bad habits seems to have peaked, he finds a new way to offend Cubbert's friends or clients, interfere with his life or just grate on his nerves.
Walgrave is the wealthy businessman who wants to commission designs for a new hotel. McCaffery is frequently cast as an authoritarian, humorless personality. It would be interesting to see him stretch a bit; he has the potential to play a wider range of characters if only a director would work with him.
Young Jeremy Garber plays Thor Walgrave, Warnick's spoiled son who inadvertently gets his just deserts through Steadman's bumbling.
Connie J. Wakefield plays wife Clelia Walgrave, with some careful touches and a sense for understated detail that stands out in this otherwise broadly drawn piece. She, and Marty Craver as Cubbert's girlfriend Tansy McGinnis, get a lot of mileage out of some economical, unforced acting.
Jim DiMunno has the juicy role of friend and neighbor Axel Hammod, a curmudgeonly theater reviewer who alternates between pretension and bile. DiMunno really seems too bland, too nice to be the person the script describes. Though he has found a few stock physical poses that mirror the character's mannered style, he doesn't seem to relish the deliciously venomous approach Hammond takes to his work. Still, one can hardly complain when a sharp-tongued critic is portrayed in too kindly a manner.
Director Stan Baranowski shows some promise in the ways he has set up the interactions of his performers, but he seems content with a presentational style, almost as if his show were a staged reading. While there are some amusing slapstick bits that come off quite well, and the occasional bit of literary humor with which Shue lards his script are best handled without forcing, there are other times that a bit more punch would help. ILLUSTRATION: AT A GLANCE
``The Nerd'' will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at
2 p.m. Sunday, and at 8 p.m. April 7 and 8 and at the Little Theatre
of Portsmouth, 1401 Elmhurst Lane.
For ticket information, call 488-7866.
by CNB