Review
Doubt
Walter Kerr Theater
February 2, 2006
VanLoan
vanloan@nyconstage.org
John Patrick Shanley's Doubt won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. The story is set in a Catholic grade school in the Bronx circa 1964. John F. Kennedy has been assassinated the year before and the middle class is starting to move from the borough as the minority population increases. Against this charged milieu, the school principle Sister Aloysius suspects that the school chaplain and physical ed teacher Father Flynn is molesting a young Negro student. Yet the only proof she has is circumstantial.
To reveal anymore of the plot would spoil many of its' pleasures. Suffice to say, Shanley has written a taut, suspense filled mystery play which leaves the audience pondering its provocative questions long after leaving. It is one of the more worthy prize winners of recent years.
Doubt has received its first cast change since moving to Broadway. Having seen the original cast, this review is essentially a comparison of the two. While innately unfair to both parties, it is always interesting to see how a play will hold up with new actors' interpretations. Nothing is really altered yet there is a subtle shift in perspective. While the former Sister Aloysius (Cherry Jones - Tony winner) was cruel yet shrewd; the current player Dame Eileen Atkins is more understated yet cunning. This moves the focus very subtly towards Father Flynn. Brian F. O' Bryne (Tony nominee) played Flynn as a bit of a charming (albeit neurotic) big brother. Ron Eldard moves the character towards a firmer masculine presence. That one in never quite certain of the accusations of abuse is a tribute to both characterizations. One does tend to miss the maliciousness that Miss Jones brought to the part. These are picayune observations however. Doubt still remains one of the most dramatically satisfying evenings on Broadway today.
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