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Peer Reviews
Doubt By John Patrick Shanley Reviewed by Cristina Martin Entire contents copyright © 2008, Cristina Martin. All rights reserved.
What better period in which to set a play about uncertainty than the autumn of 1964, a time rife with societal upheaval and widespread questioning of the status quo. Our nation had barely recovered from the blow of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and so much seemed suddenly up for grabs. Changing social mores and a growing civil rights movement in the U.S. were concurrent, in the Catholic Church, with an era of unprecedented re-examination by the Second Vatican Council of the underpinnings and practice of the faith worldwide. Indeed, the stage was set for doubt of all kinds. John Patrick Shanley's work, which is being produced for the first time at a regional theater by Actors Theatre of Louisville after garnering both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 on Broadway, centers on the doubts of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Caitlin O'Connell), principal of St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx. Sister Aloysius suspects a possible improper relationship between the parish priest, Father Brendan Flynn (Ted Deasy), and a student at the school. She is fettered by her relative powerlessness given the Church hierarchy but wholly devoted to protecting her charges in a world of moral pitfalls, and is particularly outraged that a wolf in sheep's clothing might be lurking as nearby as the rectory next door. The fact that this potential "wolf" wears his nails on the longer side and writes with a ballpoint pen (horrors! only a fountain pen produces desirable penmanship) does nothing to boost his moral acumen in her eyes.
Stern, wry Sister Aloysius is a nun of the old school who imparts to her bright-eyed young colleague, Sister James (Makela Spielman), such pronouncements as, "Satisfaction is a vice" and, "Innocence can only be wisdom in a world without evil." The contrast between the two is stark and humorous, as Sister Aloysius chastises Sister James for being too enthusiastic in her teaching, for loving her subject matter too much, and for not being suspicious enough of her students. Thanks to a fine script and nuanced interpretations, each character rises far above the potential to devolve into simple caricature. Sister Aloysius reigns by intimidation, and while we may not agree with her methods, we cannot bring ourselves to hate her. O'Connell does an excellent job of bringing out her depth and conveying the sincere desire to do whatever is ultimately in the students' best interests. Spielman's Sister James, too, grows in dimensionality as the play progresses and portrays her inner conflict convincingly. If Sister Aloysius believes her role vis-à-vis the children to be that of moral gatekeeper as she claims, Father Flynn wishes to be seen more as a compassionate friend. "I am not going to let her keep this parish in the Dark Ages," he says, suggesting the progressive movement toward a gentler Catholic Church with a focus on individual religious and interpersonal experience rather than on the exercise of power designed to keep the faithful in line. Where Sister Aloysius is cold and distant, Father Flynn believes the students need warmth and pep talks in the rectory, which might or might not be entirely innocent. Father Flynn's alleged victim, a 12-year-old boy by the name of Donald Muller, is the only minority student in a parish founded by Irish and Italian immigrants, a lonely boy very much in need of the friend and protector he seems to have found in the priest. When Sister Aloysius invites Donald's mother (Joy C. Hooper) to her office, hoping Mrs. Muller will corroborate her suspicions, the woman's reaction is not exactly what Sister Aloysius (or some members of the audience) might have expected. Hooper gives an eye-opening performance with a poignant evocation of the tumultuous world from which she has purportedly just stepped in, a world in which she is accustomed to injustices and struggles unknown to those with skin of a different color. Wendy C. Goldberg's direction of the play is seamless. The actors' positioning and use of space is particularly good in the one-on-one conversations that take place in Sister Aloysius's office which never seem stale even when they're fairly lengthy. The set, which has a tremendously authentic feel to it, consists of a rotating stage with Sister Aloysius's office on one side and a courtyard on the other. Cleverly, the area just outside the door to the principal's office is visible, too, and is used to good effect. Designer Ted Rosenthal saw to every detail, from the filing cabinets and the old-fashioned pencil sharpener on the wall to the brick and fencing and autumn leaves outside such that one feels truly transported. Josh Epstein's lighting is most effective, too, particularly in the courtyard scenes, and suggests just the right mix of sanctity and intrigue. Scrutinize Ted Deasy's every word and expression as we might, whether or not Father Flynn is guilty of any impropriety remains a mystery. Deasy plays the part skillfully, such that there is what might be construed as sufficient evidence to support either conclusion. The point, then, is ambiguity itself. The world might be an easier place to navigate if everything were black and white, but it's not. As human beings we simply can't be all-knowing, and thus there will always be gaps in the truth as we know it; moreover, upon examination of what facts we do have, it's possible to draw opposing yet equally compelling conclusions. The doubt in Doubt reaches so much beyond issues of sexual abuse or discipline or hierarchy in the Catholic Church; it refers to things that we'll never know, situations in which the right path to take is not clearly drawn. In the case of sticky social questions of all sorts, the more sides of an issue come to light the more complicated it becomes, and yet it is incumbent upon us to use whatever faculties we have at our disposal to make this imperfect world as just and as humane as it can be. Is it true, in the words of Sister Aloysius, that, "Taking a step to address wrongdoing is taking a step away from God but in His service"? If by "away from God" we mean out of our comfort zones where everything is crystal clear, then yes, perhaps.
Doubt: A Parable Posted Apr. 21, 2008
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