House guest from hell is irritatingly wonderful

Roll your most obnoxious house guest, most annoying co-worker and most irritating relative into one, then multiply by 12. The result might approximate the title character of Larry Shue's "The Nerd," a tried-and-true all-out farce that opens Starting Gate Productions' new season.

For those not familiar with this popular theater standard, "The Nerd" revolves around the house guest from hell and the havoc he wreaks on one man's life.

That man is Willum Cubbert, a rising young architect with a new commission, a beautiful girlfriend and a busy social life. Enter Rick Steadman, the former soldier who dragged a wounded and unconscious Willum out of a Vietnam jungle a few years previously. Willum is thrilled to finally meet the man who saved his life, but the result is wildly different from what he had expected.

Steadman (in a bravura performance by Luke Weber) is the quintessential nerd, from his tone-deaf social skills, to his high-water pants and penchant for whiling away the evening singing in a screeching falsetto while accompanying himself on a tambourine. He blithely moves into Willum's life and proceeds to drive him crazy. When he's not alienating Willum's boss and threatening his job, he's driving away his friends.

Director Richard Jackson and his cast attack this work with verve and energy. Characters pop in and out of doors, pile up misunderstandings and break crockery with abandon. Daniel Ian Joeck's Willum starts out feeling a little tentative, but he catches the rhythm of the farce as his life begins to dissolve around him. He's well-supported by Corby Kelly, as a suave and snarky theater critic, and Jane Froiland, as his girlfriend.

Dwight Gunderson offers a nicely outraged portrait of Willum's boss, a man with a short temper and a constant sense of bewilderment at being thrown into this madcap situation. Gail Ottmar has a well-crafted cameo as Gunderson's wife, a seething ball of rage wrapped in outward civility, and Archie Gallivan is their terrorized and terrorizing son.

Weber, however, is the show's standout. From his body posture to his fingers-on-a-chalkboard vocal quality and insouciant nonchalance, Weber revels in this role and brings to it all the enthusiasm necessary to pull it off.

"The Nerd" doesn't pretend to be anything more than an effervescent glass of champagne, more bubbles than body. Thanks in large part to Weber's over-the-top performance, Starting Gate's production fulfills that expectation nicely.

Lisa Brock writers regularly about theater.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: "The Nerd," by Larry Shue. Directed by Richard Jackson. Produced by Starting Gate Productions.

WHERE: Mounds Theatre, 1029 Hudson Road, St. Paul.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Nov. 29.

TICKETS: $16-$18. 651-645-3503.