STAGE REVIEW : Simon’s ‘Fools’ Is Gold Mine of Groaners

Neil Simon’s “Fools” is so relentless in its pursuit of the low laugh that it’s as if the popular playwright wrote it on a dare: Hey Neil, how many bad puns and jokes can you cram into two hours?

They sure do keep coming, one after another, as Simon unfolds this cockeyed fable of a village of idiots and the heady, steady teacher thrown into their midst. You almost have to admire Simon’s ability to keep wedging in the one-liners--except the whole thing leaves you dizzy and bloated, like you feel when you’ve overeaten and are pushing away from the table with something approaching desperation.

However, while not much good can be said for “Fools” (which opened on Broadway in 1981 and promptly closed), the performers at the Huntington Beach Playhouse deserve credit for their efforts. Director Peter Dolan and his cast go at all this loopy drudgery with remarkable gusto and manage to come up with a few decent passages when the characterizations nearly override the material.

Still, what material!

Dr. Zubritsky to his wife: “I thought you dusted this.”

His wife: “I did. I put dust on it yesterday.”

Earlier, he tells her to lower her voice, so she bends at the knees, lowering her whole body. Get it? Before that, he tells her to draw the curtains, and she says she can’t draw curtains but she can draw fish, something like that.

The main “comic” thrust centers on the interaction between this gathering of dimwits and the young instructor who has come to raise their IQs, and who ends up falling for the dimmest bulb in town. She’s a looker, though, and has potential, apparently not only for thinking.

Mark Bommarito and Juliana Schmidtke are sweet and likable as the teacher and his pretty pupil. As the animated straight man to all this nonsense, Bommarito demonstrates able timing and almost saintly patience. Schmidtke brings a blank-eyed charm to a role that asks her to be as dumb--but also as colorful--as paint.

‘FOOLS’

A Huntington Beach Playhouse production of Neil Simon’s comedy. Directed by Peter Dolan. Set by Peter Dolan and Bob Ashby. Lighting by Joe Greico. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Aug. 18, with a 2 p.m. matinee this Sunday, at 21141 Strathmoor Lane, Huntington Beach. Tickets: $6 to $8. Information: (714) 832-1405.