When Neil Simon was divorced from his wife, part of the agreement was the the rights of his next play would go to her. "Fools" was that play. He obviously didn't want the play to be a big hit as he didn't want his wife to make a lot of money off of it. This play tells the story of a small Russian town called Kulyenchikov. Long ago, a curse was put upon the town that disabled education. Because of this, everyone in the town was stupid. This play has a small number of characters. Each one plays a certain role. Leon Steponovich Tolchinsky is the schoolteacher that comes to Kulyenchicov in an attempt to educate Sophia Zubritsky. Sophia is a very pure and simple girl. Kindness and caring seems to radiate from her. Her parents, Lenya and Dr. Zubritsky serve as a comic relief along with the majority of the characters. The ironic moral of this play is that love can conquer all. Although Leon is unable to educate Sophia through the normal style of teaching, he is instead able to break the curse, returning intelligence to the entire town. The characters are all dynamic--well all but one who was really stupid to begin with.
This play is certainly not Simon's best but the work definately displays his voice. Simon's purpose in writing "Fools" seems very unclear to me. He could have chosen to write about anything for his wife, and yet he chose to write about the power of love.

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