A Break From Reality: Disturbing Dysfunctions & Making Sense of the Senseless Through the Character of Clelia Walgrave in Larry Shue's The Nerd

Abstract

The Nerd, by Larry Shue, is a nonsensical take on conventions of domestic comedy in theater. This work examines the precursors and the frequently unfortunate aftermath of living life out of balance. Shue's textured precepts of space and time function as defining features of liminality within a comedic setting. The world, which contextualizes the characters within The Nerd, is geographically and temporally limited, restricted to particular social and gendered roles, yet oddly physically and emotionally cluttered. Thus, although both people and objects shatter throughout the course of events, it is in the analysis of humorous elements at the root of this play that one may begin to put the many broken pieces back together. [From introductory section]