‘Kalamazoo’ at Act II Playhouse: Swipe left on this rom-com about septuagenarian love

Two septuagenarians looking for love … on the internet. That premise kicks off Kalamazoo, an obvious, occasionally and sometimes unintentionally funny play about life, romance, and starting over — this time at 70 — at Act II Playhouse.

If you’re any younger than that, you might want to swipe left on this one.

Not that Carla Belver and Jack Hoffman don’t give more than a few reasons to appreciate this newer comedy. In Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger’s 2014 script, Belver and Hoffman play Peg and Irving, respectively, who find themselves single after each enjoyed decades-long marriages. Pushed back into the dating world by their children, they quickly establish an odd, old couple of the single’s circuit: she a conservative church-going Catholic to his libido-driven, world-weary reformed Jew.

A drunken first date, where the pair mix antacids and margaritas, leads to a longer series of divulgences and dalliances. Over the show’s 75-minute run-time, the pair rushes through all the early stages of a relationship, from awkward first affections to engagements. All their hobbling and slow moving around takes place on Dirk Durosette’s multi-purpose set, where a pair of panels sport changing posters to depict a Mexican restaurant, a bird sanctuary, and the disheveled queen bed of a Holiday Inn.

Belver takes her character on a compelling (if thin-stretched) emotional arc, gliding seamlessly from earnest charm to geriatric bridezilla. At each ebb and flow, Hoffman responds like a reassuring rock (and complete antipode to the laughably neurotic characters penned by Kholos Brooks’ father-in-law, Mel). Her innocent approach strikes a hope-filled chord, one found in countless Instagram posts about starting over, rediscovering one’s self at any age and believing in the power of … well, you see the potential for eye-rolling at unintended side-effects that Belver and Hoffman mostly avoid in their skilled portrayals.

Kholos Brooks and Younger’s writing adds a few tongue-in-cheek flourishes; when asked what he’s looking for by the online dating portal, Hoffman’s Irving responds “someone that’s breathing.” Mary Carpenter’s direction treats the play with a comic tone throughout, encouraging us to laugh often while never asking us to take it too seriously despite the darker undertones.

This cute comedy takes a novel approach to teasing fresh-faced romance, one in many ways reminiscent of TV’s The Golden Girls, and a somewhat welcome twist to a traditional tale of two people embracing love and life, dancing their last days away in the thin sliver of twilight that remains.

Kalamazoo. Presented through August 4 at Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave. Ambler, Pa. Tickets and information: 215-654-0200 or act2.org