POUNDING NAILS IN THE FLOOR WITH MY...

POUNDING NAILS IN THE FLOOR WITH MY FOREHEAD by Eric Bogosian (Theatre Communications Group: $8.95; 82 pp., paperback original). In the introduction to the text of his most recent performance piece, Eric Bogosian sets out his credo: “The ‘world’ is no longer real and inaccessible; instead it is a surreal dimension from which escape is impossible. Millions think together and dream together. Slowly but surely, millions go mad together.” He illuminates the creeping insanity by assuming skewed personas: a homeless man ranting on a New York subway car; an obnoxious show-biz wanna-be; a “recovering male” apologizing for his existence. The result is a sometimes funny, sometimes unsettling portrait of American mores.