The Yellow Boat

Reviewed by Jenny Lower

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Drawing its name from a Scandinavian folk song about an intrepid vessel that sailed all the way to the sun, The Yellow Boat remakes reality in vivid colors. Directed by Joseph V. Calarco, the play recounts the life of playwright David Saar’s son Benjamin, who was born in 1979 and was later diagnosed with hemophilia. Saar serves as artistic director of the Childsplay theater in Phoenix, and his script bears the hallmark of the best children’s shows: storytelling that remains indistinguishable from productions aimed at adults, while using imagination to explore, condescension-free, issues that affect kids.

Here, a father (Joseph Patrick O’Malley) and mother (Katelyn Gault) stand in for the Saars, like the red and blue boats that make it safely back to shore. We discover Benjamin (Cody Klop) before a legion of doctors interpose, a gifted artist who thinks in colors and remains transfixed by the yellow boat, the permanent star of his bedtime stories. A chorus of supporting players melds into Benjamin’s classmates, a flock of fair-weather friends and a dreary procession of intake specialists.

Tito Fleetwood Ladd’s production design effortlessly merges fantasy and reality, transforming the stage from a glowing cosmos to a sterile box that would give a claustrophobe hives. As Benjamin sickens, punches of color brighten his narrative. The yellow boat’s architecture grows increasingly elaborate as the demand for its escapist properties grows. Janet Roston’s choreography captures Benjamin’s inner and outer worlds with recurring expeditions on the yellow boat, alongside the agonizing transfusions that preserve his life. Gregory Nabours’s delicate, evocoative musical compositions accompany Benjamin’s journey, with cello recorded by Taylor Harb. One of the production’s few missteps is the portrayal of toddler Benjamin by a white doll animated by Klop, creating an artificial distancing.

Despite its wrenching trajectory, the production presents a view of family life and resilience that is wholly intimate and affirming.

Coeurage Theatre Company at GTC Burbank, 1100 W. Clark Ave., Burbank; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; through May 25. (323) 944-2165; www.coeurage.org.