Funny business in government

Are you a “Veep” fan who is bemoaning the fact that that TV comedy lampooning politics has ended its run?

Well, bemoan no more. “The Outsider,” which Chelsea Players is performing in Norwich, is a political satire … but minus the, ah, colorful language.

And, according to Chelsea Players, this comedy “skewers the absurdities of politics and still manages to uphold the basic ideals of democracy.”

In this play written by Paul Slade Smith, the governor of an unnamed small state is forced to resign in the wake of a sex scandal, leaving his lieutenant governor to become governor. That newly minted governor has a rather significant problem: he is scared of speaking in public.

Ken Lamothe directs the Chelsea Players production. This is Lamothe’s 50th year of directing in Norwich, starting as a drama coach in 1969 when he was a math teacher at Norwich Free Academy.

Rich Weingart stars in “The Outsider,” along with Nicole Wilcox, Christine Reynolds, Michele Blair, Andrew Kirby, Aaron L. Schwartz and Bob Harding.

The playwright, by the way, is also an actor who has been on Broadway in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Finding Neverland” and the 2018 revival of “My Fair Lady.” “The Outsider” premiered at Peninsula Players Theatre in Wisconsin in 2015 and had its second production at the renowned Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey last year. “The Outsider,” 7:30 p.m. Fri., Sat. and Oct. 25, and 2 p.m. Oct. 26, United Congregational Church Hall, 87 Broadway, Norwich; tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door; senior tickets are $10 at all times; for reservations, email klamothe37@gmail.com or call (860) 887-7289; free parking at City Hall lot next to the church.