The Outsider
by Paul Slade Smith
Directed by Chris Berthelot
Produced by Allen Contemporary Theatre
Audience Rating: PG
Run Time: 2 hours 15 minutes, including one 15 minute intermission
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
Sensory Friendly Performance: Not Available
Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises or Visuals to Prepare For: Balloons, Working Clocks
Reviewed by Jenny Wood
Let’s clear up one thing out of the gate: The Outsider by Paul Slade Smith is of no relation to The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, nor The Outsider by Dorothy Brandon.
The Outsider by Paul Slade Smith is a fast-paced American satire about fictional Lieutenant Governor Ned Newley’s ascent to power:
Ned Newley doesn’t even want to be Governor. He’s terrified of public speaking; his poll numbers are impressively bad. To his ever-supportive Chief of Staff, Ned seems destined to fail.
But political consultant Arthur Vance sees things differently: Ned might be the worst candidate to ever run for office. Unless the public is looking for… the worst candidate to ever run for office.
But, IMHO, The Outsider is not a political play – it’s a truly charming, truly non-partisan workplace comedy amplifying a number of the particular sort of situations those of us working in government deal with on the daily.
When staged with character driven sincerity, as Director Chris Berthelot has done, The Outsider is highly relatable and often cathartic.
Several times I caught myself reacting to the action on stage the way I react on Teams calls when my camera is off. And my “civilian” friends were cackling non-stop the whole way through, except when they paused to knowingly shake their heads and sip their wine.
As Chief of Staff Dave Riley and seasoned pollster Paige Caldwell, Ryan Maffei and Katie O’Brien adeptly set the brisk comedic pace with clear voices and easy chemistry.
Rashae Boyd is well cast as Reporter Rachel Parsons - perhaps Boyd was actually an on-camera journalist in a past life - and Pete Thompson gives dedicated camera man A.C. Peterson an appropriately endearing but unsparing everyman authenticity.
As a person familiar with the script, I was most interested to see which direction Kya “KJ” James would take with Office Temp Louise Parkes and boy did James deliver. It’s not uncommon for an actor to take a character like Louise in a play like The Outsider and punch down. James punches up, creating a delightfully bold, vapid and extraordinarily funny foil to David Kelton’s intentionally mousey and mumbly Ned.
When Michael Miller’s political operative Arthur Vance insists that pairing up Ned and Louise in the court of public opinion is just exactly what the people want, James and Kelton wring every ounce of comedy out of their characters’ budding partnership.
Finally, an extra special shout out to the technical team! This staging presents several technical challenges (no spoilers), and they deliver solutions (seemingly) seamlessly… my favorite technical detail in the show was the clock.
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