John Patrick Shanley's Doubt is the did-he-or-didn't-he story that surrounds the suspicions that a Catholic school's principal, a nun named Sister Aloysius, has surrounding the special attention that her parish priest, Father Flynn, gives to the school's first male black student.
Shanley's play deals head-on with the priest abuse scandals that plagued our nation during the time that his drama came out. Yet, his drama encompasses much more than that. Through this story, he uses this corruption that existed within the Church, the oldest and most successful bureaucratic institution, to highlight the corruption and infectivity of all such organizations, and, furthermore, the folly of governments that do not represent democratic values. In the process, he also attacks bigotry toward racism and homosexuality, and his story is centered around an educational system that is aging. In the end, however, his play is nothing more than a parable that unfolds the hypocrisy of what Shanley defines as our "courtroom society." This society is one that challenges us to doubt in the face of a nonexistent certainty.
Shanley's play is an intense psychological thriller. It is free of action, yet it plays taxing games on the mind. Shanley's play adds to the doubt that his theme evokes, because he supplies his audience with no answers. We never see the student who is believed to be abused. We don't know if Father Flynn abused the boy, and we never see any evidence that directly connects him to the crimes. We don't know if Sister Aloyisus' accusations are valid or if she is on a witch hunt. Considering the subject matter, the ambiguity makes the play difficult to watch, and it allows for multiple interpretations, all with no certainty. In fact, in an interview which was published in the tour's Playbill, original director Doug Hughes reveals that he looked to Hitchcock, the master of this genre, for inspiration.
Cherry Jones proves with her delivery as Sister Aloysius that it is she that will be remembered as the actress of her generation, the last great American stage actress. And, it will be this role that she will be immortalized for. She, herself, knows how pivotal this role is. It is the role of a lifetime, one that will never come about again. Why else would Broadway's leading actress pack her bags and take the show on the road for a tiring six months? This occurrence never happens. And, although it should not be possible, she is even better than before, having revisited and reevaluated her original performance decisions.
Two things were strikingly different from the original production. Chris McGarry, who was the standby for Father Flynn on Broadway and is a regular to Shanley's theatrical pieces, plays the role on the road. Unlike Brían F. O'Byrne, who originated the role, McGarry chooses to play Flynn sans with a Bronx accent. Speaking without much inflection in his voice, McGarry makes his priest gentler and more relatable. And, this is certainly a plausible choice, as priests in the Catholic Church are placed according to need and not necessarily in their town of origin.
Most interesting, playing in the Colonial Theatre, a larger venue than the Walter Kerr Theatre, the show's Broadway home, the drama loses its sense of intimacy. At this theater the imtimacy was mostly lost in the large venue, as the actors had to wear microphones. Yet, the play is such a revelation that this curiosity is erased.
I know before I walked into the Colonial Theatre on Saturday night that I what I was going to see in just a short 90 minutes there was going to leave an indelible mark on me. It's the rare play that does not merely entertain or raise a question, but rather challenges the way that the entire world thinks. Every word that Shanley utilized in his script has a distinct meaning and a powerful punch.
Doubt is the most significant American play since Tony Kushner's Angels in America saga. It will be remembered as the play of our time, and there will never be a moment in time where it is not being performed in some part of the world in some capacity. A
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