Review: Doubt (A Parable) at the StLC

On Tuesday May 12th I attended a performance of the stageplay "Doubt: A Parable" , produced by the Canadian Stage Company and presented in the Bluma theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (Front & Scott Sts, Toronto). Doubt is a short one act play (approx. 90 minutes in length) featuring a cast of 4 characters, set at a New York area Catholic school in the early 1960s. The play is the basis for the critically acclaimed feature length motion picture (featuring Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman) released last year. We had excellent seats (front row centre) that we were able to purchase for a song ($22.50 each @ a 20% discount for Toronto Star readers.) While the balcony was virtually empty, the lower house was largely filled-- a reasonable crowd for a Tuesday night performance mid run and toward the end of the theatre season.

The stageplay, written by John Patrick Shanley, is exceptional. The arc of the plot is deliberately ambiguous, in order to stir many thought provoking questions. The cast of characters includes Sister Aloysius, a hardened old widow and the matriarch of the school, young innocent Sister James, charismatic crusading Father Flynn, the new associate pastor at the parish that adjoins the school and Mrs. Muller, the mother of the first black student to enroll at a school where most students are of Italian and Irish extraction. The central conflict of the play pits Sister Aloysisus against the other three characters. She remains steadfast in her certitude about the correctness of her views in the face of opposition from the other three characters and ultimately prevails in imposing her will, against their resistance.

Sister Aloysius sees the world in dispassionate black and white terms. She is a no nonsense nun who believes in discipline, the three Rs and that rules should be obeyed and not be broken. She is an enforcer who rules with an iron fist and who sees separating good from evil (like weeds from the plants in the convent garden she is fond of tending), rooting out transgressors, seeking their contrition and doling out punishment as her life mission. Having lost a husband to war she is all too aware that evil does exist in the world and that there is a heavy price to pay if it is not held in check. She is not a likable character but considers the need to be liked a character flaw.

Sister James, on the other hand, is an idealistic young woman who loves teaching and longs for acceptance by her class and the approval of her boss (Sister Aloysius). When confronted with the possibility of evil deeds, she prefers to ignore them or re-interpret them in a way that gives the perpetrators the benefit of the doubt. She is compassionate, quick to forgive and mistrusts her own instincts. She prefers to romanticize the history she teaches as an escape from the harsh realities of the present. Conflict and confrontation make her uncomfortable. She is a trusting and giving person.

Father Flynn is a crusading young priest who seeks to have a positive inspirational influence on his parishioners and the boys at the school who he coaches. He wants to modernize the church and make faith a relevant, positive influence in the community. Yet he wields old-fashioned notions about the pyramidal hierarchy of the church and sexism (the dominance of male priests over female nuns) as weapons in his battle of wits against Sister Aloysius. He often seems more concerned about protecting reputations and driven by ego than by the wellbeing of the community he professes to value above all else.

Mrs. Muller is a working class mother seeking to shelter her son from a hostile racist community and the anger of her husband lashing out against the boy's emerging adolescent sexuality. She desperately wants her son to fit in and be accepted in the school so that he can graduate, succeed in high school and in life beyond matriculation. She prefers to see Father Flynn as a surrogate father figure and a positive influence in the boy's life, who poses less of a threat to her son that his natural father who beats him. She has no qualms about suppressing or concealing the truth and denying stark reality if it is likely to lead to a more expedient and positive outcome.

The play triangulates between the perspectives of these four central characters in resolving the conflict they become immersed in.

I found David Storch very effective as Father Flynn. Seana McKenna (who I also saw in a production of The Clean House last season) credible as Sister Aloysius and Raven Dauda exceptional as Mrs. Muller. If there was a weak link among the cast it was Daniela Vaskalic as Sister James. I also found all of the actors attempts at a New Yawk accent distracting.

The sets are spartan-- the action basically alternates between the convent courtyard (set between the rectory and the school) and Sister Aloysius's office, with one scene set in a locker room. There are also two framing sermons delivered by the priest alone on stage.

Overall it was an enjoyable night at the theatre. Fortunately, I was not hampered by any expectations informed by having seen the movie version previously. I do plan to rent the movie on video now, though, having seen the original stageplay source material.