Full Frontal Nerdity, You Read It Right…

The Festival of The Spoken Nerd is coming to a venue near you – prepare for pure unadulterated nerdity as Nathalie Blonder did when she went to see them at Harrogate Theatre

“An insignificant, foolish, or socially inept person; a person who is boringly conventional or studious. Now also: spec. a person who pursues an unfashionable or highly technical interest with obsessive or exclusive dedication.” – Oxford English Dictionary

Ladies and gentlemen I warn you what you’re about to read is extremely nerdy so if you’re of a non-technological disposition you may want to look away now.

Since the Festival of The Spoken Nerd will be coming to Leeds City Varieties on the 4th of March I thought I’d better get my skates on and tell you all about when I went to see them in Harrogate – a place which has the poshest and most unlikely theatre for a show with a name that in itself sounds flammable. Never mind, this show must go on. I was surprised to find out that the nerds to whom Helen Arney, Matt Parker and Steve Mould are trying to appeal vary quite a lot: from mathematical whizzes, to people who like things that go bang, to those who just enjoy a good childish joke. I was expecting a Big Bang Theory charade but it’s so much more than that – and they even guffawed as they referred to the lowly sitcom on their ‘spectrum of nerdiness’.

Most of the audience had made themselves feel at home as the crude computer display introduced the show accompanied by the feel-good tunes of ELO and Daft Punk. The wonderful presenters made their way onto a set that looked like an office with play space. I can’t be sure this is a consistent theme throughout the tour but Arney was truly committing to the geek as she strutted on stage wearing a periodic table dress. What’s more, she carried it off with flair and made it look like something that all the dorky somebodies should be wearing this season.

To someone not paying attention to what was going on, the amount of ooh’s and ahh’s coming from the audience as the show unfolded may have seemed very funny indeed but there was literally no other way of expressing the wonderment of the things we got to learn. I personally now have a deep, lasting affection for spreadsheets. Oh, and although I want to say I understand the Game of Life (not the board game), I don’t, but it still majorly entices me. Moreover, it has re-sparked acute desire to understand the physics underlaying everyday phenomena – mind-blowing stuff. It’s a good job Arney was there to provide a little respite with her electric ukulele, singing about the confusing disorder that is synaesthesia – they smelled yellow!

There are lots of wonderful surprises in the show that definitely need to be seen rather the read about so I shan’t give too much away bar this – the fact that a legitimate physics genius, a musician and a guy The *actual!* Mould Effect is named after are all touring together sharing their know-how is a pretty special thing. I came away with a signed poster, Arney’s new EP, and a love-heart keyring that has two ‘Amicable Numbers’ on (trying to explain what they meant to my non-mathematical valentine with my non-mathematical brain simply added to the fun).