“What do you do when you’re not sure?” These words ring out in the opening moments of Studio Theatre’s staging of John Patrick Shanley’s 2004 play Doubt: A Parable, a Tony and Pulitzer winner. And they epitomize the central theme this gripping production, directed by Matt Torney, cross-examines throughout its 95-minute runtime.
Doubt, a chamber piece that comprises just four roles and nine scenes, crackles with deep suspicion and righteous anger. Emotions run high all around. But hard evidence is notably absent in this self-described “parable” of alleged child molestation, which may in fact be a misguided witch hunt. God only knows the real truth.
Set at the St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx during the mid-1960s, Doubt is a game of escalating brinkmanship between its two polar leads. The charismatic Father Flynn (Christian Conn) is a progressive priest, equally as skilled at coaching the school’s basketball team as he is delivering a rousing sermon. He soon enters the crosshairs of the hard-nosed Sister Aloysius (Sarah Marshall), the head nun and principal of the school, a fierce defender of increasingly bygone traditions and rules. Don’t get her started on the scourge of ballpoint pens.
When the young and credulous Sister James (Amelia Pedlow) alerts her to a questionable closed-door meeting between the Father and the school’s lone black student, Sister Aloysius’ darkest intuitions are confirmed. Father Flynn must be exposed as a serial abuser, or at the very least removed from his position at St. Nicholas, with or without airtight proof or an outright confession. A bloodhound has been unleashed.
The student in question, Donald Muller, is never seen onstage. The play unfolds as a series of sly interrogations by Sister Aloysius—our dogged hero and prosecutor—with Sister James, Father Flynn, and Donald’s well-meaning mother (Tiffany M. Thompson) as her unsuspecting witnesses. The more she digs, the further the audience gets from the slam-dunk we’re craving.
If doubt evokes a sense of pure frustration, this near-perfect Doubt achieves the opposite effect. Shanley’s source material has, sadly, aged better with each passing year, given the ongoing crisis within the Catholic Church and our post-truth political landscape. The cast stands proudly beside performances—by Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Meryl Streep—from the 2008 film adaptation. Sarah Marshall, in particular, is a sight to behold. She’s a tightly coiled spring who unleashes tensile fury late in the production. Sister Aloysius’ final, heartbreaking words only sink us deeper into uncertainty. As the stage lights fade, a darkened theater is left electrified.
Doubt: A Parable runs at Studio Theatre through Oct. 6. Tickets $60-$87. Runtime approximately one hour and 35 minutes with no intermission.
