Theater review

Rick Steadman is a nerd. He wears glasses held together with adhesive tape. His shirttail hangs out of his trousers. He burps in public and is loud, agitating and imposing. No one likes his company, but architect Willum Cubbert owes his life to Rick. When Willum was wounded in Vietnam, Rick valiantly carried him to safety.

The crisis that Willum must face when Rick arrives on his doorstep many years later is the predicament of Larry Shue’s play “The Nerd,” now playing through July 22 at the Acadia Repertory Theater in Somesville.

The play is unquestionably a farce, with absurd situations and slapstick comedy. At one point during a party game, five cast members stand in Willum’s living room with bags over their heads and no shoes on. They hum while they turn around in circles. Later, while staging a dinner intended to scare Rick out of town, the cast members chant tribal songs, hop on one foot and spoon sand into their tea.

The first few times around, these ludicrous situations really are very funny, and the Acadia Rep actors offer their best work during these high-energy moments. And somewhere in the audience, someone will be laughing throughout the entire show, but the burlesque does grow wearisomely redundant. The punchy one-liners are entertaining but not sustaining. Shue is a master of humor but, in this play, it is at the expense of the plot which is finally rather disappointing and unlikely.

This is not to say, however, that the Acadia Rep production is not worth attending. There are nuggets of gold; they’re just tucked inside of other, rather lackluster moments.

Steve Robbins, who plays Rick, provides much of the energy in the show. This was a role made for Robbins whose clownish antics engage without effort or inhibition. Robbins goes for all the cliched nerd traits and the audience is bent in laughter for most of his performance. An actor of Robbins’ caliber, however, might have found an equally hilarious but fresh approach to a now-worn out stereotype.

Nine-year-old Benjamin Erickson is also a highlight of the production. He plays Thor Waldgrave, the son of one of Willum’s potential clients. Whenever Erickson is on stage, we can’t help but enjoy his performance.

The best thing about Erickson is that he doesn’t overact, and this is largely a problem with several other cast members. Dee Pelletier, as Willum’s retreating lover Tansy McGinnis, and Alan Gallant, as one of Willum’s potential clients Warnock Walgrave, offer performances that are strained and overdone. Pelletier laughs hysterically throughout the show — and her laughs are very convincing — but we have no idea why she is laughing so much. Even though Gallant elicits laughter from the audience, his performance is melodramatic and stiff.

Mark Dean, as Willum, is competent in his performance, and Laura Lewis, as the schoolmarmish Clelia Waldgrave, again proves her skill for careful and purposeful character development. As the neighboring art critic Axel Hammond, Brian Desmond is cynical and funny.

Although the twist in the plot at the end of the play is thematically unsatisfying and the humor is erratic, the Acadia Rep production is raucous and entertaining.

“The Nerd” will be performed at 8:15 p.m. July 13-15 and 17-22, and 2 p.m. July 22 at the Acadia Repertory Theater in Somesville. For reservations, call 244-7260.