The Clouded Face of ‘Doubt’

Everything is black and white and yet nothing is. It is the fall of 1964 and an ominous chill hangs in the air at St. Nicholas School in the Bronx. Under the direction and scrutiny of Sister Aloysius, enthusiastic teachers need to be reprimanded and students who use ballpoints instead of fountain pens might as well be running with scissors. In this taut moral and religious environment, someone is to blame even if no one is to blame. And Sister Aloysius gets the last word. When she suspects a popular priest has preyed on one of his male students, nothing can stop her from driving him out of the church community, even when her own moral clarity is called into question. The ambiguity of whether Father Flynn is guilty of child abuse is the power behind John Patrick Shanley’s compelling drama ‘Doubt,” an intellectual and emotional production directed by Doug Hughes at the Ahmanson Theatre. Shanley advises in the program notes that we embrace our doubt, for this uncertainty is “a passionate exercise” that often leads to awakening and insight. Cherry Jones, who earned a Tony Award for her portrayal of Sister Aloysius on Broadway, reprises her role, as does Tony-winner Adriane Lenox in the role of Mrs. Muller, the mother of the boy in question. My only regret was not being able to hear some of their dialogue because of poor acoustics under the balcony in the entirely too large Ahmanson. Over the course of the play, we see many sides to Jones’ Sister Aloysius. We see a frail woman with a piercing gaze and fearsome spirit. We see a prodding, manipulative principal who can slam drawers and make a fellow nun cry or take her under her wing as a confidant. “Don’t let a little blood fuddle your judgment,” she tells the young, open-minded Sister James when one of her students has a nosebleed. “God gave you a brain and a heart. The heart is warm, but your wits must be cold.” Sister Aloysius’ small, stuffy office functions as an interrogation room and her interactions with Sister James (Lisa Joyce) and Father Flynn (Chris McGarry) play out like scenes from Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” with Jones in full command of her character’s ability to extract key bits of potentially damaging information. Even the audience feels vulnerable under her stare. But we also sympathize with Sister Aloysius because, after all, her shoulders–slightly raised under the black habit–are heavy with responsibility. Her duty to the Catholic church and to the children, whom she feels she must protect from potential evil, is more important to her than whether or not Father Flynn has done anything wrong. No ones seems to know this more than Father Flynn himself, but he refuses to let her use this as an excuse for accusing him of malfeasance. McGarry plays the causal, modern priest, raising his voice and blatantly revealing his character’s more secular attitude, like when he suggests they include “Frosty the Snowman” in the Christmas pageant. The audience sympathizes with Father Flynn even though he seems, at times, too defensive and forward with respect to Sister Aloysius, settling down in her office chair and then standing over her, inches from her face. In the middle of this tangled web is the vulnerable and easily intimidated Sister James, a budding nun under the stringent guise of Sister Aloysius. In this role, Joyce gives an emotional performance, revealing her character’s desperate search for the truth. Ultimately, Sister James is the most obvious example of Shanley’s message that some of the darkest moments, when you lose yourself completely, are the beginning of growth and enlightenment. The one character who comes in from outside of the hermetic world of St. Nicholas is Mrs. Muller, and her interaction with Sister Aloysius is particularly intense because she doesn’t fold under the principal’s prodding and, in fact, challenges Sister Aloysius on all accounts. Lenox’s portrayal of the dignified, strong-willed mother struggling to keep her son afloat in a hard world, is riveting. ‘Doubt’ runs through October 29 at the Ahmanson Theatre. For tickets ($20-$80), call (213) 628-2772 or visit www.CenterTheatreGroup.org.