Starting last Thursday through December 12, Grand Central Theatre is performing Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. Although the theatre itself is in Santa Ana, it’s run by CSUF, and is a small, intimate theatre, which was a perfect set-up for this production. It allowed the main focus to be on the actors, who did an amazing job of inhabiting their characters, especially Ben Sargent, who plays CB (Charlie Brown).
To be honest, I’ve never really thought of what the Peanuts gang from Charles Schulz’s comic strip (and later television specials) would be like when they were teenagers. At first Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead’s portrayal seems rather out of sorts, almost shocking, until you remember that a) Charles Schulz’s classic cartoon was created in the 50’s and 60’s so many of the topics raised in this performance aren’t things that would’ve ever made publication then and b) that high school often does bring out the most extreme changes in people, when they’re starting to figure out who they are, yet also craving to fit in, which is CB’s constant struggle throughout the play, along with what happens after people (and animals) die?
For the first part of the play, I spent most of the time just trying to figure out which character they were–either because of publication rights or because they wanted to have a slight degree of separation, none of the characters in the play have their original names, (except Marcy, but even she spells it differently) so part of the fun is the hints they give you (i.e. that the pot head is indeed Linus, as they discuss smoking his blanket and that the wannabe playboy is none other than Pig-Pen who now despises any mention of “filth” or “swine” directed towards him, and borders on germaphobe.)
Once you’ve met each character you can settle in a bit more, focusing on more the play’s plot itself rather than the guess who and tongue-in-cheek parody of it all. And let me say this–it’s a pretty heavy play. What starts as a frothy look at modern high schoolers, slowly things start getting beneath the surface and we see CB isn’t the blockhead we all took him for–here he’s presented as a contemplative youth, so beaten down by everyone telling him that everything he does is wrong, that he’s self-conscious about even the way he dresses. His friends all rely on his predictability, his lack of change, that when he does something completely out of character they are shocked–yet that’s when our man CB finally feels comfortable in his own skin. The second part of the play focuses on the aftermath of Charlie’s revelation, the rest of the cast reacting each in their own way, coming upon their own epiphanies as they work their way into the adults they meant to be, not the child we know from the comic strip.
Knowing the Peanuts‘ characters and history is helpful for watching, and without it you may miss some of the inside jokes, however it’s not necessary to fully enjoy the play. I am myself am not an avid reader/watcher of Peanuts, but know the basics (i.e. characters’ names, love interests, and that Charles Schulz is the creator) and that was more than enough for me to appreciate the humor. As I mentioned the focus was on the actors, so the sets were rather sparse, but that was something I enjoyed about the play–no flash, no glitz–just up close and personal with the Peanut gallery.
Photo taken by Christine Benjamin
