• Timothy Richard

Susan (Kathryrn McCormack) and Elliot (Ian Mullan) are adorably quirky and cute. They’ve met online and are on their first date in a New York bar when things start to go hilariously wrong. Elliot, “a puppet-lover who hates rollercoasters”, keeps revealing disturbing tidbits about his obsessive personality, while the calmer, more collected Susan eventually admits to foibles including a “borderline personality disorder.” As the evening unwinds, so too do Elliot and Susan, passing from awkward banter to the all-important first kiss to declarations of love and finally to a tragic break-up. This is a dark and laugh-out-loud funny play. Staging this production in Tribecca adds a nice dose of realism, and gives the audience a voyeuristic feeling that fits with the themes of the play. In the end, this is not your average first-date-from-hell exploration, and Susan and Elliot are (hopefully) unlike anyone you know. But is it a blast spending the evening with them? Hell, ya!

November 17-19, Tribeca Bistro Bar, 1588 Granville Street, $10, nerve.eventbrite.com, 7pm