Broken Legs Blog

This blog post was written for East Midlands Theatre.

A tongue-in-cheek retelling of the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, new musical “Nerds” begins a limited run at Leicester Curve before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe next month. The comedy is exactly as you would expect for a Fringe show – pushing the boundaries of sensical, filled with over-the-top characterisations and plenty of creative puns and wordplay. Written by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, the jokes never stop coming, and regularly prompt laugh-out-loud responses from the audience. For computer geeks especially, there is lots to enjoy – even before the show begins, the audience are treated to a techno remix of the Microsoft start-up jingle.

The story begins in the 70s, with Gates (Dan Buckley) recently dropped out of Harvard and Jobs (Kane Oliver Parry) in the midst of his hippie phase. Both enter a computer competition, where Jobs displays the first ever computer with a screen. Throughout the show, there is a running joke where Jobs glimpses the future, allowing him to make several comments about modern day technology, such as smartphones. This helps the audience draw links between the birth of personal computers and our present experiences, as Parry sings a song about computers being “not just for missiles” but also “for fun”.

Jobs is teamed up with Ethan Pascal Peters’ Steve Wozniak, a constantly overlooked companion who develops a lot of the technology that Jobs then takes credit for. Peters is fantastic in the role, his facial expressions constantly demanding attention and drawing even more laughter from the audience. Despite his attempts to get more involved with Jobs’ business, he is forever overlooked, and even mocked – throughout, Jobs refers to him as “Wozzy Bear”. This all culminates in a very funny, dramatic reveal of the new Macintosh, much to the shock and dismay of Bill Gates.

Gates also has a partner in crime in the shape of Elliot Evans’ Paul Allen. Gates and Allen are both very similar characters – unlucky in love, and desperately failing to be cool. At one point, Gates attempts to write an equation for being cool, until Allen points out that writing an equation is the definition of uncool. Evans is likeable in the role, and Allen remains calm and collected as Bill Gates begins to let his power and fame go to his head.

Love interests for the two tech nerds are introduced in the shape of Elise Zavou’s Sally and Teleri Hughes Myrtle, although the two female characters are given very little agency and instead are simply there to further the journey of our two leads. Zavou is seduced by Jobs so he can get his hands on her new mouse technology, whilst Hughes enjoys a tango with Gates as her company prepares to merge with Microsoft in a musical number that is packed full of innuendos.

Also along for the ride are Julie Yammanee as IBM CEO Tom Watson, who collaborates with Bill Gates to develop a new operating system, but ultimately fails in his endeavours after Microsoft release Windows. Watson appears in later scenes as a drug addict, in an ongoing joke that wears a little thin, and doesn’t appear to be based on reality given my brief research online after the show. Curtis Patrick stars as an additional chorus member, taking on various roles throughout, and is a true stand-out of the show. He knowingly sings about being an extra, becomes inappropriately obsessed with Jobs, and has a brilliant moment in the curtain call which will be a treat for theatre fans.

Overall, this is a very funny show that works well given its short 70 minute runtime. Under the direction of Nick Winston, the zaniness does not become tiresome, and the story moves rapidly through a brief history of Jobs and Gates – although how much of it is actually true and how much of it is silliness remains unclear (I’m guessing Gates didn’t chop off someone’s arm with a lightsaber in real life…?) The songs are catchy but reminiscent of other contemporary musicals – there is nothing unexpected or out of the ordinary here – and a lot of the comedy is in keeping with plenty of other Fringe shows. It doesn’t break any new boundaries, but it delivers what is expected of it very capably. This is a highly entertaining afternoon of theatre – and, for nerds like me, a real treat.

Tom Morley, July 2025

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