doubt

National Theatre Is Filled with ‘Doubt’

By Gretchen R. Crowe
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 3/22/07)

As a Catholic, you might not feel completely comfortable watching the plot of “Doubt” unravel at National Theatre in Washington, but that does not make it any less fascinating or brilliantly acted. Set in 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronx, N.Y., the play by John Patrick Shanley is a concrete artistic response to the Church’s sexual abuse scandal that has come glaringly to light over the past six years.
The play, which opened on Broadway in 2004, is all shadows and shades of gray. True and false depend on who’s speaking, who’s listening. Nothing is certain — or is it?
Father Flynn (Chris McGarry) is a young, progressive priest at the all-boys St. Nicholas Church School. He grows his fingernails long, takes three cubes of sugar in his tea and is charismatic and enthusiastic while teaching physical education. Sister Aloysius (Cherry Jones) is an old-school principal who believes in discipline, skepticism and measured interaction with her charges.
These two square off in an intense battle with no real conclusion — and, truly, no real foundation. Sister Aloysius is convinced that there is an improper relationship between Father Flynn and the first “negro boy” at the school, but she has no concrete evidence. She enlists the help of young, energetic Sister James (Lisa Joyce), asking her to watch for strange behavior between the priest and the boys. Having been put on alert, Sister James questions a one-on-one meeting between the priest and the boy, who is an outcast at the school, and tells her superior, who becomes more convinced than ever that Father Flynn’s relationship with the boy is unhealthy. Father Flynn, however, dispels this accusation, and the audience is left wondering exactly whom to believe.
With his concise writing and his carefully chosen words, Shanley creates a world full of questions, uncertainty and, indeed, doubt, where perspectives change instantaneously, depending on which of the play’s four characters (the boy’s mother, Mrs. Muller, is played by Caroline Stefanie Clay) is in the scene.
Scene transitions are jarring, reminding the audience that, while there may be moments of humor, the subject at hand is first and foremost a serious one. Church hierarchy and her “maleness” are questioned, but never blatantly challenged.
Every minute of this Tony and Pulitzer Prize award-winning play is written giftedly and acted inspiringly, despite its difficult content. Gender, race and sexuality weave together to fashion a masterpiece with nothing but loose ends. But it is these loose ends that will broaden perspective and inspire conversation on the trip home. These loose ends will open eyes to the life of a nun who is living in the past and one who is looking toward the future; to the life of the mother of a boy who faces an uphill fight just to live a life of equality; and to the life of a young priest who lives in a shadow of suspicion, whether founded or not. And it is these loose ends, on which hangs the intense, emotional and devastating subject of clergy sexual abuse, that will linger in minds for days to come.
Of that there is no doubt.
“Doubt” plays at National Theatre through March 25. For tickets call 1-800-447-7400 or go to www.nationaltheatre.org.

Gretchen R. Crowe can be reached at gcrowe@catholicherald.com.