Article:10030; Posted: July 26, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.

You’ve heard the story of the grumpy recluse whose hardened heart melts when a winsome but equally lonely boy/girl/dog/cat/wild animal enters his life…but you’ve never heard the story quite the way Joseph Zettelmaier tells it in “Invasive Species.”

To begin with, the agent of thaw is a particularly ugly fish. Moreover, “Invasive Species” is more comedic than sentimental–way more. Then, too, Zettelmaier’s latest work is the first play ever set in Gobles, Michigan. (That’s just a guess, but I’m pretty sure Euripides never got around to writing “Iphigenia at Gobles.”)

In its world premiere staging by Joseph Albright at Tipping Point Theatre, “Invasive Species” proves sweet and funny and raunchy–not necessarily in that order. You’ve got to like a play that begins with drunken, slovenly fisherman Earl Hobbs (Aral Gribble) bellowing out “I hate wearing pants!”

Earl hates pretty much everything and he provides a hint as to why, calling out pitifully to someone–a wife or girlfriend–who has left him. As we’ll soon see, he has habit of talking to things that can’t answer back. And then, after fishing all night, Earl reels in something he has never seen before, and our story takes off.

In the next scene, a uniformed conservation officer, Eden Selkirk (Melynee Saunders Warren) comes to his door to identify the fish that Earl is keeping in an aquarium. It turns out to be a snakehead, an African fish that has no business being in these waters. It’s invasive and a danger to native marine life. By law, Eden is required to confiscate and destroy it but Earl, sensing a kindred spirit in the fish, which he names Toothy, will have none of it. Eden, sensing something kindred in Earl–although they are antagonists on the surface–lets Toothy remain in Earl’s tank.

Like Toothy, much of what passes between Earl and Eden exists beneath the surface…until it doesn’t. And just who is the invasive species will become something for the audience to ponder.

Gribble and Saunders are an engaging duo. They are a physical contrast: he’s large, she’s slim. His character is loud and sloppy and, hers is soft-spoken and stands, even sits, ramrod straight. He is the big lug with a heart of gold and she is the straitlaced, by-the-book woman with a heart of gold.

Gribble is also a skilled physical comedian: his depiction of a drunken man trying to fish with one hand and pull up his pants with the other is delightful.

Jennifer Maiseloff creates in one appealing set an indoor and outdoor space, the outdoors wrapping itself around the indoors like a shawl, or a hug, with a large back wall of inviting woods that fall somewhere on a scale between “Lord of the Rings” and “Jurassic Park.”

Alex Gay’s lighting and Theresa Williams’ soundscape provide welcome layers of atmosphere–the scene where Earl and Eden watch a movie on TV is especially convincing–and Williams supplies an expertly curated selection of fishing songs before the play begins and pleasing instrumentals between scenes.

1 hour, 30 minutes

SHOW DETAILS:
Invasive Species
Tipping Point Theatre
361 E. Cady Street, Northville
July 23–August 23, 2015; 8:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with matinees at 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
$27.00-$32.00
248 347-0003
TippingPointTheatre.com