Stage Review - Fools (Olympic Theatre Arts)
Stage Review - Fools
Presented By: Olympic Theatre Arts - Sequim, WA
Show Run: March 07 - March 23, 2025
Date Reviewed: Sunday, March 09, 2025 (Opening Weekend)
Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes (including a 15 minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
I love digging into the background of a play and unearthing a story that is just about as funny as the comedy on stage. Knowing Neil Simon’s sense of humor, it should follow that there are some pretty humorous tales behind some of his work, and the story behind Fools is incredibly funny in its own right. According to the prevailing rumor, Fools, which is running on stage at Olympic Theatre Arts in Sequim through March 23, was written by Simon as part of an agreement he made with his wife as part of their divorce proceedings. Their arrangement stipulated that she receive the profits from his whatever his next play was going to be, so out of spite he wrote something he was sure would never make it for any length of time on Broadway, hence Fools. The story of the cursed village of Kulyenchikov, Ukraine where, in the late 19th century, all of the residents, along with their descendants, were doomed to be idiots, Fools was largely panned by critics, ran for only forty shows, and ended up being quite the victory for the playwright in his divorce.
The play was panned mostly because it relies on the same joke told over and over again, one where the residents don’t understand the nuance of language and take what another says literally, creating a funny misunderstanding. For example, Slovitch the butcher, in a conversation with Mishkin, the postman, asks “Do I have any mail?”, to which the postman responds, “No, I’m the postman, I have all the mail.” It makes sense that for folks paying a few hundred dollars for a seat on Broadway hearing the same thing over and over might get tiresome, but community theatre is quite a different landscape, and something like this makes for a fun show, something which is demonstrated time and again through its ongoing popularity. The Olympic Theatre Arts production is, in fact, a very fun evening (or afternoon) at the theatre, though in true Simon fashion, the fun does bely a strong theme, one of oppression and the power of knowledge to overcome that oppression. Fools is an example of a play in which the audience finds so much enjoyment in the telling of the story that it’s not until later that they realize that a lesson was a part of the deal.
Steve Fisher is the director of the Olympic Theatre Arts production, and he’s put together a cracking good play. It’s fun from start to finish, and it’s hopeful, everything we need right now. Suzan Noyes’ set, a cartoonish representation of the town of Kulyenchikov, is wonderfully done. From words and names that are spelled incorrectly, letters backwards resembling the writings of a kindergartner, to the general lack of straight edges on any of the signs, or buildings for that matter, it looks like something right out of Toontown. There are plenty of doors for the characters to pull when they should be pushing, or entranceways built low so that they continuously walk into them, though with all this said, it’s also smartly built. With the multitudes of windows and doors, there are a lot of details that have been taken into consideration, not the least of which is around sight-lines. Depending on where someone sits in the auditorium, they’ll have a different view into the back of the set through the buildings. It’s nicely accomplished. Additionally, Rebecca Orozco has done a nice job with the lighting of Kulyenchikov, while David Meissner’s sound effects whenever anyone invokes the name of Yousekevitch, the one who cursed the town after his son, who was in love with one of the girls in the town, killed himself after her father married her off to someone more intelligent, are downright hilarious. This creative team, and this includes costume lead Joodie Klinke who has designed some very nice outfits for the cast for their roles, has done a very nice job in their work here.
As the play begins, the curse has been in place for 200 years, and when a newcomer arrives, teacher Leon Tolchinsky, at the behest of the town physician Dr. Zubritsky, initially he’s told that the reason for his coming to town is to educate the doctor’s daughter, Sophia, but he soon learns that educating her would actually break the curse, as it was an ancestor of Sophia, a namesake to be fair, that Yousekevitch’s son was in love with. The challenge, of course, is that it is virtually impossible for anyone in this town to learn anything at all. But when Leon meets Sophia, and starts to have feelings for her, he’s determined to help her learn something, just one thing, even when he finds out that he only has one day to do it, else he be put under the same curse.
Steve’s work in creating a fun environment for the audience isn’t limited to the creative, it also has a lot to do with his cast. The two things that make this kind of humor work are the pace of delivery firstly, and the ability to play straight. The comedy is similar to that found in the Airplane films (“Don’t call me Shirley!”), and the delivery of those jokes seriously is what makes them so funny, and so it is here. The cast gets this, and they also get that to keep the laughs going, they each need to keep the pace of dialogue up, and they do, which makes sure the audience never loses interest and allows each joke to build on the previous one. As the lead here, Colby Thomas as teacher Leon Tolchinsky is perhaps the one straight in the show, his character is the only one who isn’t under the curse. Colby brings a ton of energy into his performance, and his Leon is hopeful, carrying that with him even through what should be his frustration with not being able to communicate at the same level with the folks he meets in town, like Snetsky, the shepherd, or “the sheep loser”, as he is known, since he can’t keep track of his sheep. Snetsky, first name “Something-Something”, because he can’t remember it, is completely absent minded, and Joe Schulz is wonderfully funny playing him. Mishkin, the postman, is played by Carolyn Edge, Slovitch, the butcher, played by Jason Yormark, and the forgetful vendor Yenchna, who sells flowers, but thinks they’re fish, is played innocently as Karen Twight. Each is as clueless as the next, and each actor superb.
Most of Leon’s interaction, though, is with the Zubritsky family, Dr. Zubritsky, played by Vince Campbell, Lenya, his wife and played by Joodie Klinke, and daughter Sophia, the one Leon is hired to make smarter in order to break the curse, played here by Deanna Eickhoff. This family is hilarious. Vince’s Zubritsky, who looks a bit like Einstein with his crazy hair, seems smart enough to know that he wants his daughter to be educated, but not smart enough to know that a curse is called a, well, a curse. He and his wife can’t remember if it’s a nurse or what it is, but they’re in the general ballpark. Vince and Joodie are so good together, he is enthusiastic, she is a little more subdued, and seems to defer to her husband quite a bit. She also doesn’t understand push vs. pull on a door, but then again, neither does her daughter. Deanna’s Sophia is so sweet in her naiveté, her wide-eyed wonder, and her ability to take things so literally and grasp nothing that’s being taught to her. She’s also smitten with Colby’s Leon, and watching the two together is like watching two young lovers discovering what love is for the first time, and his teaching is not just funny, it’s also heartwarming.
Rounding out the cast are Ken Burland as the town’s Magistrate, he who is responsible for making sure rules are followed and time is announced. He seems to have a little more knowledge than everyone else, though it’s still quite limited. Ken is stoic in his portrayal, stiff and unwavering, which is funny in its own right. Finally, there is the last of the Yousekevitch descendants, Gregor, the one on the hillside who throws water on the town when he’s not happy (i.e. rain), and determined to make sure that the curse stays in place, unless Sophia agrees to marry him. Shaun Hughbanks plays the villain here, but he plays him humorously, he breaks the fourth wall quite often, and contributes considerably to the fun of the play.
Fools was written by Neil Simon to be specifically something that wouldn’t be successful on Broadway, as a way of sticking it to his wife in their divorce proceedings. And while he was successful there, the play has found a life of its own in the regional and community theatre circuit. It’s a show that’s funny, enjoyable, and fun time for the audience. The Olympic Theatre Arts production of Fools, under the direction of Steve Fisher, proves why it has been so successful at this level, it is well paced, hilariously performed, and overall a genuinely amusing and entertaining play, enjoyable for all.
Neil Simon’s Fools runs on stage at Olympic Theatre Arts in Sequim through March 23. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.olympictheatrearts.org/.
Photo credit: Mark Klinke
