THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
This vivid revival of John Patrick Shanley’s provocative 2004 Pulitzer and Tony winning play couldn’t be more pertinent. At a time when canceling and silencing are all the rage, this deals with characters who have lost the ability to live comfortably with uncertainty. Shanley frames his play eloquently in an excellent programme note “Doubt requires more courage than conviction does” he says, “as conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite – it is a passionate exercise”. We could learn something here.
But this is no dry philosophical debate. Instead, it’s a perfectly honed 90 minutes which pins you to your seat like a good thriller would, except here the crime may not even have been committed. Shanley said he kept it to one Act because he wanted Act 2 to be when we the audience goes away and haggles over whether or not we believe her – the woman in question is Sister Aloysius (Monica Dolan) the stern Mother Superior of a strict Catholic primary school in the Bronx in 1964, just at the time when the stays were loosening on America’s culture of moral certainty.
Father Flynn (Sam Spruell) is a progressive young priest at the school and his conduct provokes the suspicion of the top nun, after the kindly young Sister James (Jessica Rhodes) notices alcohol on the breath of a boy who had arrived in her class following a private session with Fr. Flynn in his office. The boy, a sensitive soul, is the first black kid in the school and is suffering accordingly. Sr. Aloysius, with a zealot’s glee on stumbling upon potential wrongdoing, summons the child’s mother and begins to move against the priest.
Monica Dolan (Olivier winner for All About Eve, and now in her prime) is perfect casting by director Lia Williams. She’s solid, imposing and verbal and renders every encounter with her into a lesson or a trial. Dolan does make one misstep though. There are moments, as she’s turned away from her interlocutor, when a flicker of nervousness crosses her face, and you think a Mother Superior, always ‘on’, would never give the game away like that. Having been educated by Irish clergy I am familiar with their power ploys. One recalls, too, Meryl Streep in the superb movie version, where, as they say, “She’d put the fear of God in you”.
Spruell captures the young priest’s lazy sense of entitlement, his literal playing of the hierarchy, but he also appears troubled, giving the audience just enough grounds for doubt. Rhodes is perfect as the angelic soul who loves her teaching but whose spirit, you know, will be curdled by life in this nunnery. The play has a supporting part, just one scene, that’s a gift for any actor. It’s the part of the boy’s mother and here Rebecca Scroggs is quietly devastating as she slays this dragon.
Williams draws superb performances from the cast but at times her staging appears muddled. At crucial moments characters are not eyeing each other and the invisible walls are broken by actors for no reason. Joanna Scotcher's design and Paul Keoghan’s lighting are both suitably austere and one nice touch is how Sr. Aloysius' desk is ever present, as is her malign influence.
It’s an utterly gripping piece of theater which sends you away debating and will remain with you for a long time.
