On an open stage under blue lights, Book-It has recreated a small part of the tidal coast of the Puget Sound. Driftwood logs rest against weathered, barnacle-encrusted pilings. The blue-green floor appears to be a shimmering sea that stretches into the distance where forested islands and coastline recede from view. It's a landscape whose outward features we all know well. Book-It's production of "The Highest Tide" intends to teach us the details of its ecology.
And teach it does. Through the adventures of its main character, Miles O'Malley a 14-year-old boy with prodigious knowledge of the world beneath the sea and at its shores, the audience is provided a seminar's worth of information on every possible Puget Sound underwater creature from barnacles to sperm whales.
It's a theater piece adrift, between biology class and personal drama, and therein lies a problem. It needed to be more firmly anchored in the theatrically interesting story of the boy.
Miles, played brilliantly by Kellan Larson may know all there is to know about the biology of the Sound, but he's not at all clear about the physiological and emotional changes he's undergoing as a healthy, pubescent male. Some of the best parts of the play are not when he provides impromptu lectures on salt-water fauna. Rather, they concern his responses to human problems and to his awakening hormones and the salacious information he learns from his equally confused same-age buddy.
In addition to the tempests within his body, Miles must come to terms with somewhat disengaged parents who are in the throes of a separation. He has to deal with unexpected celebrity thrust upon him. And, if that weren't enough emotional distress, he is the one to find the corpse of an aged woman whom he considered his best friend.
Poor Miles, it's almost too much for any kid to handle, but through the skilled performance of Larson, we see him do it.
Larson is remarkable. Almost the entire story is told in his voice. He speaks to the audience directly, offers asides to himself, and interacts with the other characters. It's all done with aplomb and charm -- a virtuoso performance.
The rest of the cast plays well together. Of particular note is Leticia Jaramillo as Florence, the sharp-tongued and witty elderly woman faced with debilitating illness.
Jane Jones directs from her adaptation of the award-winning book of the same name by Olympia resident Jim Lynch.
It's an adaptation that needs further work. In her effort to capture the natural history that is effectively integrated within in the pages of a novel, she's overwhelmed the play with sea-life factoids.
Yes, this is the season when we celebrate Earth Day, and yes it's interesting to know that the eyes of a giant squid are as big as a man's head, that moon jellies congregate in certain patterns. Who knew how barnacles mated or that it would be interesting to have this knowledge? And, as Miles tells us, we should heed Rachel Carson's advice to "pay attention" to the natural world around us. But this is not the stuff from which compelling stage works are created.
So - too many natural history lessons, but otherwise a sweet story, good performances, a fine set designed by Curtis Taylor and evocative lighting by Ben Zamora. Honorable though Book-It's intentions are to raise awareness about the fragility of our environment, its real mission is theater. The company is at its best when it puts its full focus there.
"The Highest Tide" plays at the Center House Theatre in Seattle Center Wednesdays - Sundays through May 10.
Tickets $15 -$32 available at 216-0833 www.book-it.org