Welcome to the tiny Ukrainian village of Kulyenchikov, in the mid-1800s. Leon, an excitable young schoolteacher, is answering an ad to come and teach in the village. The first person Leon meets is Something-something Snetsky. Snetsky is the town sheep loser (he can't seem to keep track of them, so he's not a sheep herder) and can't recall his first name because he is under the same curse as all Kulyenchikov residents, that of stupidity.
In an effort to lift the 200-year-old curse, the village doctor and his wife advertise for a schoolteacher to come and teach their daughter. What they don't tell the good teacher is that if he can't make her smarter in one day - or 25 hours, according to the villainous Duke Yousekevitch, played deliciously by Timothy Hornor - he too shall fall under the curse and lose all capacity for intelligent thought.
As luck would have it, Leon falls in love with his student, the beautiful Sophia, played by the very talented Kelly Balch, and is thus even more determined than ever to release her from the bonds of an I.Q. lower than a cabbage. Point in fact; she just recently learned to sit down, all by herself. An accomplishment worthy of high praise from her dimwitted parents, Dr. Zubritsky (Bill Johns) and his ever-forgetful wife, Lenya (Kim Morris).
Love, as most people will agree, tends to make even the most intelligent among us dumb down. Stupidity is taken to a new level of hilarity in Neil Simon's infrequently staged 1981 comedy "Fools," playing at the Taproot Theater in Greenwood through May 1.
Simon, winner of Tony awards, Academy Award nominations and a Pulitzer Prize, is the author of dozens of plays and screenplays. "Fools," based on a folk tale - folk tales generally being lessons in life given through storytelling - tells us that if we hear something about ourselves long enough, we begin to believe it to be true. Because the villagers believe themselves cursed with stupidity, they are fools, and hilariously so. Simon's simple writings give us this life's lesson in quick one-liners, and let the actors take little asides to speak to the audience, bringing them in on the action. We are let in on Leon's feelings of exasperation as he tries to teach Sophia, or hold a conversation with her parents.
The rest of the villagers all come with their own baggage of foolish, yet funny, quirks. Yenchna, the fish vendor, can't find any fish to sell, so she wraps up flowers and gives them the names of fish - "Whitefish! Get your whitefish here! Fresh halibut!" - all the time waving her brightly colored floral arrangements. Leon is understandably confused at being offered flowers in lieu of fish, but manages to buy some nice fresh "whitefish" to give to Sophie's mother Lenya. Lenya's face lights up delightfully as she gushes over her lovely new whitefish.
In this era of profanity and nudity, "Fools" is refreshingly free of both and is suitable for all audiences. If you enjoy the old comedy routines and are looking for a night of simple pleasures, Taproot Theater's production of Neil Simon's comic fable is for you. The actors are energetic and entirely engaging. You'll laugh at their antics and delight in the fact that, as with all fairy tales, love conquers all.
Taproot Theater is a cozy, 226-seat theater where the audience is drawn into the play by its close proximity to the actors. The simple, yet artistic, set is the stage for the barrage of well-timed lines that kept the audience laughing throughout most of the play.
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