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Nerve - Acting Edition
NERVE is a dark comedy about falling into a relationship on the first date. Elliot has never had an online date before at least not one that showed up. Susan has had far too many but would prefer not to discuss them. When they meet in a bar one night, all their personality flaws are revealed, along with a puppet, some modern dance and a desperation that may or may not be love.
72 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2007
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November 29, 2022
Nerve, a play by Adam Szymkowicz, charts a first date between Elliot and Susan. They've met over the Internet and now they're meeting in person, for the very first time, at a bar. He's immediately panicky about whether things are going well or not: will they kiss, and if so, will it be a good kiss, one that portends the beautiful and significant relationship he's hoping for? This in turn makes her more than a little wary, understandably. Let's not worry about the first kiss just yet, she tells him. Let's just relax and talk and find out what we think of each other.
And so Nerve progresses, through the sometimes trivial, sometimes intimate push-and-pull of two (more or less) grown-up people trying to get to know each other. Susan and Elliot reveal, to us and to each other, a fair amount of charm, a good deal of anxiety and uncertainty, and--more and more as the evening progresses--some very particular qualities that we might charitably call quirks but that border on pathology of some kind or other. He's controlling. Strike that: he's been in jail for stalking previous girlfriends. She's insecure. Strike that: she's been bulimic and has been known, from time to time, to cut herself with a knife.
They both swear they've changed, and we want to believe it. They probably want to believe it, of each other; but do they really?
And so Nerve progresses, through the sometimes trivial, sometimes intimate push-and-pull of two (more or less) grown-up people trying to get to know each other. Susan and Elliot reveal, to us and to each other, a fair amount of charm, a good deal of anxiety and uncertainty, and--more and more as the evening progresses--some very particular qualities that we might charitably call quirks but that border on pathology of some kind or other. He's controlling. Strike that: he's been in jail for stalking previous girlfriends. She's insecure. Strike that: she's been bulimic and has been known, from time to time, to cut herself with a knife.
They both swear they've changed, and we want to believe it. They probably want to believe it, of each other; but do they really?
Displaying 1 of 1 review