Ever wonder about what the “Peanuts” cartoon characters would be like going to high school?

Okay, maybe not. But Bert V. Royal did, and put his imaginings into “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” a provocative work getting its local debut by InnerMission Productions at Diversionary Theatre. The result is irreverent, raunchy, witty, shocking, silly and often outrageous, but ultimately it’s poignant and touching.

Wendy Savage

^{Photo by Paul Savage}

The “Dog” characters, for all sorts of obvious legal reasons, don’t have the “Peanuts” names, but are all quickly recognizable to the zillions of followers of the decades-old comic strip, which is often termed the most beloved cartoon ever. And Royal spins his plot from familiar situations in the strip.

For instance, the story is framed as a letter from lead character CB to his Pen Pal. And it opens with a gasp-inducer: CB’s beagle has died. CB found the dog snarling in the corner of his red doghouse, its interior covered with blood — the blood of a little yellow bird.

The dog, it turns out, was rabid and had to be put down. That leaves CB bereft, circulating among his pals and asking their opinions about an afterlife and whether it includes animals (in one conversation, the play’s title gets explained and used as a lead-in to one of the script’s funniest lines).

That metaphysical question, however, soon submerges in a stew of teenage troubles, all underscored with frequent use of the f-bomb. CB’s younger sister is constantly seeking an identity, one day a fundamentalist Baptist, the next a Wiccan, and dramatizes her quest with a performance piece about a caterpillar evolving, not into a butterfly, but a platypus.

Linus — er, Van — is a total pothead. When his beloved blanket was burned by CB et al, he mixed it with weed and smoked it. Marcy — here a “y” instead of “ie” — sits with acid-tongued Peppermint Patty — er, Tricia — in the school cafeteria and joins her in bitchily dissing nearly everyone, particularly the girl with curly hair. And Lucy — er, Van’s Sister — has been committed to an institution as an arsonist after she set fire to a redheaded girl’s hair.

Most stunning of all is Matt, who hates any reference to swine and particularly his former nickname, “Pig Pen,” because he’s now a neurotic clean freak, a coke-snorter and boastfully obsessed with “pussy.” He’s also the main tormentor of the gay piano-player, Schroeder — er, Beethoven.

All this provides fodder for mirth, much of it stirred by the wicked irony of the transformations or by recalling the cartoon’s features and language like "good grief" and "blockhead." CB, for example, whines that he used to “spend an hour every day figuring out what to wear.” Beethoven plays the piano with the swinging arms of the animated Shroeder. And any adult speech sounds as the famous “wah wah.”

In the end, however, the “Dog” comedy and story are dark, with excesses and tonal changes that take some getting used to. Fortunately, it gets buoyed in its final scenes with messages of compassion, tolerance and togetherness.

Director Kym Pappas has knowledgably steered a generally reliable cast, although Nick Louie’s Van made his stoned-ness too toneless. Standouts are Evan Kendig, strong as supermacho bully Matt; Jonathan Hammond, sympathetic as the much-abused Beethoven; and “CB Sister” Wendy Savage, wacky in her many personae and the major beneficiary of Teri Brown’s costume creativity.

Kirby Solognier’s sets feature spray-painted backdrops of a school and other locales, along with a wall, table and chairs plus that little red doghouse. Chad Oakley’s lighting was usually apt but had a couple of glitches. The sound design, highlighted by the adult wah-wahs, is by Pappas and Carla Nell,

Would “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz approve of his characters mouthing obscenities, overindulging in booze and drugs, and engaging in such activities as gay kissing, sexual threesomes and oral copulation? Not likely. But who knows? That Snoopy always had a wild streak.

Cast

Credits