Nerd Alert!
David Heffron
1 October 2006
Jawa Bar and Cafe
If you argue about Picard versus Janeway, know Mulder and Scully’s first names, can draw a map of the Discworld or just been forced to play games on a dud computer-please share you’re nerdiness with David Heffron.
Sometimes it is hard to find your audience during the Fringe. My friend and I were delighted to be David Heffron’s audience. We hung out in the very fabulous Jawa Bar, had our choice of couches (vinyl or futon), drank Argentinean Beer and got to laugh for an hour with a lovely bloke who likes Buffy and They Might Be Giants (the band, not the film) - so he’s gotta be alright.
Nerd Alert! “aims to rock the world of geek-dom to its very core”. Now, I believe that nerds and geeks are different and should not be discussed as the same creatures. I’d call David an IT geek, but a Sci-Fi nerd, who has fortunately outgrown his childhood as a dork (he was scared of ET).
David tells us about his journey to becoming a self-professed geek, but doesn’t define, explore or expose geek culture. He used his love of books and sci-fi to escape PE and football, but did six years of reading and re-reading Terry Pratchett have any substantial effect on his life? He can recite the episodes of Red Dwarf in order, but doesn’t tell us why this genre of sci-fi captured his imagination. I wanted to know where his obsession went to from there, and why did he think Deep Space Nine was better than Voyager? I would also have liked to see him delve further into the world of the uber-geeks – who he admits he is a bit scared of.
I laughed with David throughout the show. He is very funny and appealing. If Nerd Alert! is going to move to bigger venues it will benefit from some tightening and external direction, but its casual and relaxed presentation is perfect for the intimacy of the Jawa Bar.
This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
