Touring "Doubt" Has Cherry on Top

"Doubt"

 

Written by John Patrick Shanley; directed by Doug Hughes; scenic design by John Lee Beatty; costume design by Catherine Zuber; lighting design by Pat Collins; original music and sound design by David Van Tieghem

 

Cast in order of appearance:

 

Father Flynn, Chris McGarry

Sister Aloysius, Cherry Jones

Sister James, Lisa Joyce

Mrs. Muller, Caroline Stefanie Clay

 

Performances: Now through February 18 at the Colonial Theatre, Boston

Box Office: Ticketmaster at 617-931-2787 or www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com

 

What a difference a cast makes.

 

When I saw "Doubt" on Broadway starring replacements Eileen Atkins, Ron Eldard and Jena Malone, I wondered what all the fuss was about. I felt that the cast members (with the glorious exception of original cast holdover Adriane Lenox) were acting as little more than mouthpieces for playwright John Patrick Shanley, hammering home his message about doubt with a mighty two-by-four. I kept thinking to myself, "I get it." I was never drawn into the play's ambiguities or the characters' inner worlds.

 

Thankfully the national touring production now in Boston at the Colonial Theatre through February 18 has laid to rest my lingering doubts about this powerful Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Its wonderful cast, led by the incomparable Cherry Jones reprising her Tony Award-winning role as Sister Aloysius, brings Shanley's thoughtfully nuanced and layered script to life in three tender, funny, and combustible dimensions.

 

Set in 1964 in a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx, "Doubt" dramatizes the insidious uncertainty that arises when formidable old-school principal Sister Aloysius suspects the charming young Father Flynn of seducing and sexually molesting an emotionally isolated and tormented eighth grade boy – Donald Muller, the only black child in the entire school. Dogged in her determination to protect Donald, and other boys, from further abuse, Sister Aloysius enlists the novice classroom teacher Sister James to be vigilant in observing anything unusual in her students' behavior. Soon the young nun reports of smelling alcohol on Donald's breath – immediately upon his return from a private meeting with Father Flynn in the rectory. Confrontations ensue, and suddenly ideologies about teaching, parenting, accusing, judging, and protecting religious institutional traditions all come into question.

 

As the indomitable Sister Aloysius, Cherry Jones is a force of nature. She turns from an irascible and comic protector of the old ways of teaching into a boldly calculating champion of what's right in her eyes. Never doubting what she needs to do to protect her young charges, despite the absence of hard evidence, she is heroine and potential villain all in one. Acting on one level as a vigilante who has only the welfare of the children in mind, Jones also subtly hints at personal grudges her character may harbor against the church's self serving patriarchal hierarchy and against the new breed of friendly priest and nun who want their students to like them. Her seeming obsession allows for a hint of doubt about her motives even while we believe that she believes. Jones gives a masterful performance, but her co-stars are also worthy flints who together with her create brilliant sparks.

 

Chris McGarry as the accused Father Flynn is an eerie combination of boyish idealist and seductive smooth talker. As he attempts to convince Sister James of his innocence with impassioned logic, we see shades of both the likable priest who cares deeply about kids and the smart, manipulative, arrogant narcissist who could easily prey upon those who come under his spell. Is he just a really nice guy whose camaraderie with the boys is misperceived and misunderstood, or is he a cunning predator whose endearing wiles seduce all but the knowing Sister Aloysius? An explosive cat-and-mouse confrontation between McGarry and Jones teases us with an answer, but even after an apparent resolution, the outcome is still not 100% clear.

 

Caught painfully between Sister Aloysius' certainty and Father Flynn's plausible explanations is the confused and impressionable Sister James. Played with a delicate innocence and heartbreaking sincerity by Lisa Joyce, Sister James turns out to be the play's most unlikely victim in the fight of absolute good against suspected evil. Harsh realities intrude upon the young nun's idyllic quest to inspire as well as teach her students, and Joyce wistfully expresses the torment of being torn by her desire to do the right thing for the children versus her empathy for the priest whose approach to mentoring is much more in line with hers than is her emotionally distant Reverend Mother's.

 

Caroline Stefanie Clay rounds out the talented cast as Mrs. Muller, mother of the unseen but oft mentioned Donald. In her one emotionally devastating scene with Sister Aloysius, Clay takes our breath away as she tries desperately to weigh the gains against the losses in leaving the question of her son's possible abuse unanswered. Her rationalizations and denial are a tragic act of complicity, but her compassion ultimately leaves us wondering. What really is best for her son?

 

"Doubt" is a searing human drama that pits conviction against indecision, action against inaction. It explores the power and paralysis of uncertainty, and it leaves us angered at institutions that protect its shepherds at the expense of its flock.

 

There's no doubt that it's strong theater. It will make you think and feel.

 

PHOTOS (Credits: Craig Schwartz)

 

1. Cherry Jones and Caroline Stefanie Clay

2. Cherry Jones and Chris McGarry

3. Lisa Joyce and Cherry Jones

 

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