Go, Dog. Go! Seattle Pup Visits Seattle Children's Theatre
Go, Dog. Go!
To kick off their 43rd season, the Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) brought back the popular adaptation of P. D. Eastman’s beloved classic Go, Dog. Go! Big dogs, little dogs, black and white dogs; blue dogs in red trees, green dogs in blue trees, dogs at work, at play, at rest, a bright sun overhead, and a whole lot more!
The play is a delight to the senses.
From the front rows of easy padded bench seating, you hear giggles and laughter from the young audience. For some children, they are watching a play for the very first time. You can feel the excitement. Yes, excitement. If you think such simple text and action would be slow or boring, playwrights Steven Dietz and Allison Gregory’s collaboration of Go, Dog. Go! for stage is a happy surprise.
You can feel the excitement.
Visually the set is simple, yet vibrant and like the story, whimsical, fun, and unexpected. Actors recreate the dog characters by wearing onesies, with ears and a tail, and the occasional hat. Matching sneakers in bright primary colors complete the scene, bringing picture pages from the timeless book to life. Depth is offered to the simple text through lively musical interpretation.
The play is a delight to the senses.
The production is ninety minutes in length, including intermission, but like any well crafted and acted play, it transcends time and goes by all too quickly. While entertaining for adults, Go, Dog. Go! is of course designed for children and offers a wonderful introduction to theater. Actor Basil Harris, who plays Yellow Dog, comments how the play is “bomb proof” and participation from the audience is encouraged. He says there is little that can distract the crew onstage during a performance. A large inflatable ball is passed around from stage to seats as part of “dogs at play.” Clapping, singing along, echoing phrases, and laughter keeps the entire, occasionally noisy, audience engaged.
Aside from the colors, song, and sometimes frenzied action, Go, Dog. Go! offers lifelong lessons in a fresh way for young and old alike. The gentle reminder that night is not for play, night is for sleep! (Followed by comical antics of dogs who do not want to sleep). Subtle lessons in sharing, in helping, in friendship are interwoven throughout the seemingly simple story. MC dog’s reply “No, I do NOT like that hat!” to the lady dog Hattie, offers an example of unapologetic honesty.
In the end, all the dogs are invited to the party, and you can join too! Go, Dog. Go! is playful and wise, silly and significant, and well worth a visit to the Seattle Children’s Theatre. But hurry, the show runs only through November 26th!
Live, Love, Wag!
Photos courtesy of the Seattle Children's Theatre
Article by Christina Haase
Seattle Pup Magazine Editorial Note:
Please note that real dogs (*other than service animals) are not allowed in the theater.
Don’t forget to print out the Active Audience Guide for Go, Dog. Go! This educational guide produced by the Seattle Children’s Theatre provides all the details about the show including material and activities that correspond to the Washington State K-12 Standards for the theater arts, biographies of the playwrights, and detailed information about how the theater crew created the set and the costumes. There is also wonderful information about real
dogs at work and at play! It was our experience that this helpful guide was highly prized at the event and copies quickly ran out. If you have trouble with link above you can download the guide from the SCT website (about half way down the page).
The Seattle Public Library is a great place to find a copy! Check it out for free!.
Seattle Pup Kid Noah Byroads narrated Go, Dog. Go! for the Seattle Pup Kids page. You can listen to him read it by clicking here. *Please note that we made an error during recording and mistakenly attributed the book to Dr. Seuss when it was in fact written by P. D. Eastman.