LAFAYETTE — With their children raising children of their own, Charlie and Nancy are spending some much-deserved time on a beach. Charlie thinks a responsible life has earned him a little rest. Nancy, though, thinks it’s earned her time and space to finally enjoy more exciting endeavors.

So begins Edward Albee’s play “Seascape,” currently receiving a first-rate staging at Theater Company of Lafayette.

Like other of the American writer’s plays, Albee manages to explore big ideas in the context of interpersonal relationships. “Seascape,” though, is no “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” or “A Delicate Balance,” even though all three plays involve frayed relationships, and all three earned either a Tony Award or Pulitzer Prize after playing on Broadway. (“Seascape” was awarded the Pulitzer for drama in 1975.)

“Seascape” is lighter than its counterparts. And it’s harder to categorize. That’s due to the appearance of the second couple, a pair of human-sized, English-speaking lizard creatures, who slither onto the beach and surprise Charlie (Timothy Englert) and Nancy (Sheri Davis).

The wide-eyed way Ian Gerber (Leslie) and Mary Secor (Sarah) play the curious and cautious lizards, it’s clearly OK to laugh.

When the lizards appear, the TCL production widens from a quiet drama about aging into an absurdly funny exploration of coupling, bigotry, evolution, and the nature of existence. Thank goodness for Nancy’s bad liver paste and for scaly costumes.

The two sets of couples, first fearful of the other, slowly learn to communicate. They discover similarities and differences. Though Leslie’s brutish reactions to Charlie’s prodding points to a distinction between animal instinct and more evolved ways of thinking, Leslie’s reactions are all too recognizable as human.

Without traveling into quicksand and sinking from weighty dialogue, the play manages to ask how far we’ve really come as a species, even as Charlie and Nancy urge their reptile friends not to return to the ocean’s depths.

Without focused performances from its cast of four, “Seascape” can become a watery, unfocused indulgence. Director Madge Montgomery, however, has elicited strong efforts all around.

Gerber stalks the stage with a reptilian mix of fear and focused interest. He’s always ready to fight or flee. Secor is spry and endearing as Sarah. (Secor, as costumer, also gets credit for the lively take on the head-to-toe lizard outfits).

As Nancy, Davis is smart and eager to embrace whatever’s in store. Englert’s Charlie is a perfect melancholic stick in the sand. Charlie would rather sleep than anything else, until prodded into action, and Englert has a natural way on stage — he delivers his dialogue as if it’s the first time he’s spoken it.

Contact Camera Theater Critic Mark Collins at 303-473-1369 or BDCTheater@comcast.net.