It’s not easy playing the fool

Tom Titus

When Neil Simon finally shuffles off this mortal coil, he’ll be

remembered for such plays as “The Odd Couple,” “Barefoot in the

Park,” the Brighton Beach trilogy and the Suites -- Plaza, California

and London. It’s doubtful that obituary writers will lend much

credence to “Fools.”

Let’s face it. “Fools” just isn’t the sort of Simonized comedy the

prolific playwright is known for. Yet, he wrote it, presumably, for

much the same reason Shakespeare wrote “The Comedy of Errors” -- to

afford actors the opportunity for egregious overplaying with

impunity. This is precisely what we get in the play’s latest local

production at Costa Mesa’s Vanguard University.

Director Sunny Peabody is well schooled in the art of farce,

having played the title role in “Scapino” during his student time at

Vanguard. He’s also a devotee of multimedia presentation, as he

displayed when he directed “Hamlet” during the same period.

Both these elements of theater serve Peabody well in “Fools,”

although purists may wince at the depths to which Simon sinks for an

easy gag. The Vanguard production is replete with outlandish

characterization, which is really the only way to make a play from

this genre work.

“Fools” revolves around a 19th-century Ukrainian village that has

labored under a 200-year-old curse -- that all of its citizens share

the title of village idiot. Enter a young schoolmaster (Adam Eugene

Hurst), who strives to break the spell and win the heart of his

comely pupil (Carissa Buchmiller).

Naturally, he has a rival, the descendant of the nobleman who cast

the curse in the first place (Edward Portillo) and who proposes to

Buchmiller twice a day, like clockwork. Her parents (Rene Scheys and

Emily Rose) favor Hurst’s suit, but are prisoners of their own

stupidity, as is everyone else in the village.

Hurst’s dogged dedication to the cause is well played, and he

stands out as the only character in the show with more than half a

wit. Buchmiller radiates a vacuous charm that keeps the teacher

dedicated to his task, while Scheys and Rose are a goofy treat as the

parents.

Portillo’s nominal villain isn’t the ominous sort who would make

villagers tremble at the mention of his name (as they do here), since

he’s just as much of a dunderhead as the rest. The rest are pretty

hopeless, the most impressive of that lot being Ben Larson’s inept

shepherd, who can’t find his sheep nor remember his first name.

Lending half-witted atmosphere to the Vanguard production are

villagers Lily German, Jerry Fuentes, Calli Adams and Rhiannon

Wentworth, all of whom revel in playing assorted dim bulbs.

Scenic designer Tim Mueller’s gray-hued village setting is nicely

conceived, offering a wide screen at the rear for video projections.

Lia Hansen has costumed the cast in appropriate peasant attire for

the most part (with outfits possibly inherited from Vanguard’s last

show, “Fiddler on the Roof”).

“Fools” is a very un-Simon like exercise in outlandishly broad

comedy, and Peabody’s equally broad staging amplifies the atmosphere

of idiocy considerably. Leave your preference for subtlety at the

door for this one.

* TOM TITUS’ reviews run Thursdays and Saturdays.