Dog Sees God, which re-imagines the characters of Charles Schulz’ Peanuts as teenagers based on the dispositions of their childhood incarnations, is part comedy, part meditation on the end of innocence.
Faithfully following the comic’s main characters to their logical adolescent conclusions, writer Bert V. Royal and director Lezlie Wade bring us the earnest and lovable CB (Charlie Brown), searching for meaning after the death of his beloved beagle; Stiffleresque school bully Matt (Pigpen); and stoner Van (Linus) who has replaced his blanket with a pot habit.
The cast, all stars of Degrassi: The Next Generation, play their teenage roles as well as you would hope. Alex Saslove and Siobhan Murphy do a particularly convincing job of capturing bitchy codependent best friends Marcy and Trisha (Peppermint Patty), who mix White Russians in their lunchtime milk cartons. The first half hour, as we discover what time has done to those tiny cartoon friends, contains some of the play’s best dialogue and all of its comedy. Lindsey Clark, understudy for Paula Brancati, is both funny and terrifying in the role of Van’s sister (Lucy), whose pyromaniacal tendencies have landed her in an asylum.
