It’s easier to frown than to smile—and most of us do not laugh enough. That’s why it was such a pleasure August 23 to sit in a room with a crowd of people laughing out loud. The occasion for the laughter was the whodunit play, Unnecessary Farce, at Chula Vista’s Onstage Theater, which is running through September 12, 2015.

Though OnStage productions sometimes integrates local color into the script—uses the names of South Bay news papers or destinations—Unnecessary Farce takes place in any town USA. Perhaps that’s why the perennial theme of corruption at city hall, in this case discrepancies in the budget and an embezzling mayor, needs so little setup. But wait, there’s a twist, it’s not the Mafia behind the corruption—it’s the Clan with a C—the Scottish Clan.

Eric Sheridan (Bryan Finnegan) and Billie Dwyer (Amada O’Ruairc) do a great job as wanna-be detectives in charge of videotaping the mayor’s confession from an adjacent hotel room. Karen Brown (Rachel Throesch) is well cast as the accountant/seductress. But the Scottish Clan’s hitman, Todd, played by Greg McAfee, often threatens to steal the play. Wandering about in his plaid kilt, or plaid undershorts, yelling at people with an unintelligible brogue, threatening to bagpipe people to death—well you can see the humor in it already.

Though there is a great deal of rolling around on the bed, by twos and by threes, and several characters spend a lot of time in their boxers or black lingerie—the play is silly not sexy. The script is full of double entendres and the characters are full of enthusiasm.

They throw themselves onto the bed, onto the floor, into the door, and into the farce—the scuffs on their knees are proof.

This is summer fare—light and crafted to make you laugh.