‘Yellow Boat’ sails into deep waters with tale of dying child

David Saar’s “The Yellow Boat” chronicles the short life of his son, Benjamin. The play is grounded by a Scandinavian folksong the family sings together, which is about three boats; the blue stands for hope, the red stands for faith, and the yellow for love. Benjamin always insisted on being the yellow boat. While the other boats always returned home, the yellow boat sailed to the sun.

This simple, one-dimensional story, now getting its local premiere from Three Bone Theatre at UpStage, would make a good documentary short. It presents a portrait of a situation and a time, it’s a shameless tearjerker, and it provides a tutorial on how to empathize with families dealing with terminal illness.

Benjamin Saar was born to Sonja and David on April 19, 1979. Shortly after birth, he was diagnosed as having hemophilia. The standard treatment was Factor VIII, a concentration of donated blood plasma that stopped internal bleeding; Benjamin received a transfusion every time he banged a limb.

But this was the 1980s, the HIV epidemic was spreading, and Benjamin lived in the period before intensive blood screening practices. Eventually, he became infected with the HIV virus.

The play does not linger on mistakes made by the medical community. Instead, it highlights the inhumanity of being stuck in a health care system full of sterile doctors, who concentrate on solving a scientific mystery while ignoring the person at its center – even when he is a little boy.

When Benjamin is diagnosed with HIV, the family’s friends disappear and take Benjamin’s friends with them. Those old enough to remember the ’80s will recall the fear factor an HIV diagnosis wrought. The doctors aren’t bad people; they are just obsessed with diagnosis and treatment. An endless stream of blood tests ensues.

Benjamin consoles himself by translating his pain and feelings into colors. His senses of sight, hearing, taste, and feeling are expressed by red, blue, purple and green. The parents promise everything will be okay until it is clear that their son, who dies when he is 8, sees his fate more clearly than they do. (Mother and son are played by a real mother and son, Alison Snow Rhinehardt and Pryor Justis Rhinehardt. Scott Miller plays the father.)

“The Yellow Boat” might provide comfort for kids who are sick or have friends who are sick. Societally, we don’t do a good job of dealing with death and grief. Though this imaginative ensemble adds levity to the story, this play succeeds better as a lesson than as entertainment.

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 12:15 PM with the headline "‘Yellow Boat’ sails into deep waters with tale of dying child."