Go! review

“More Fun Than Bowling” begins with the image of a man dressed in gangster black with a blood red tie, brandishing a gun and telling us he’s on the lookout for Jake Tomlinson.

So for the rest of the play, we wait to find out why this man, Mister Dyson, wants to kill Jake.

After all, Jake (Josh Aaron McCabe) seems like a pretty nice guy, even though he’s expecting his own death at any moment and can’t remember which of his two dead wives (his second and third) are in which grave. But he’s the loving father of a cute-as-a-bug daughter, Molly (Leah Rae Hulgin), that was abandoned by the first wife (still living, as far as we know) and a bowling aficionado, the owner of a small bowling alley (the Dust Bowl, indicating that it’s probably not thriving) in a small town (the oxymoronic Turtle Rapids, where life moves slowly), whose wives fall victim to bizarre, ironic bowling-related accidents.

The play takes place at the site of their graves, where Jake has been keeping vigil, anticipating his own demise.

We see his life being played in reverse, but it’s unclear who’s doing the telling. Could be the presumed hit man, who seems somewhat in control of the narrative as a perverse kind of chorus, or it could be Jake reliving his past in order to make sense of his doomed (as he perceives it) future. And it matters some. We first learn about his latest wife, Loretta, who was best friends with his first, Lois, and to whom he proposed only 12 days after Lois’ death, then we learn about Lois.

That’s not as confusing as it sounds. The mysterious man in  black and red is, and when it’s all revealed, it seems too pat, the deus ex machina (unearned resolution) that Aristotle warned us about.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a funny play. Morgan Grahame and k Jenny Jones are both charming and engaging actresses that share a warm, down-to-earth kind of presence and humor. And Michael Bath is as funny as Mr. Dyson as the character is inexplicable.

We laugh, but we scratch our heads, too.

• WHAT: “More Fun Than Bowling” by Steven Dietz
• WHERE: Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1127 Vine St., Cincinnati
• WHEN: Through Nov. 4
• COST: $27-$35 adults, discounts for students/seniors/children
• MORE INFO: (513) 421-3555; www.cincyetc.com