Theater Review—

Shanley’s Parable Play May Offer Doubt, But Hartford TheatreWorks Talent Doesn’t Disappoint

By Julie Stern

HARTFORD — When John Patrick Shanley’s  “parable” play Doubt opened on Broadway in 2005, it won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Now audiences can see a production at Hartford TheaterWorks that is every bit as gripping and powerful and professionally done, for about one third the cost.

Begin with the set, because with the open stage format, you get to sit and appreciate it before the show even starts. Aided by Matthew Richards’ lighting, designer Adrian W. Jones has used meticulous detail to recreate the interior of the principal’s office in a Bronx Catholic elementary school, with casement windows behind the desk looking out on a brick tenement, while the foreground becomes a private meditation garden.

The year is 1964, when the reforms in the Church envisioned by Pope John XXIII when he convened Vatican II have yet to be embraced by many of the clergy. The conflict is embodied in the attitudes of the two central characters, Father Brendan Flynn and Sister Aloysius Beauvier.

Father Flynn, the resident priest at St Nicholas Church, is a hip, funny, down to earth young guy who is as comfortable playing basketball with the kids as he is giving thoughtful sermons, filled with stories he calls parables.

The play opens with one on the subject of “Doubt.” The Father compares the loss of religious certainty to a lone sailor on a life raft in the middle of the ocean, who hopes he is heading home based on his knowledge of the stars; but the stars are hidden by clouds, and he can only pray that he is going in the right direction, rather than heading farther out to sea.

Father Flynn wants to make the Church more welcoming and accessible to everyone, with more emphasis on God’s Love and less on sin and punishment.

By contrast, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the principal of St Nicholas Catholic School, is an old line traditionalist, who wants the children to be terrified of her, because it will curb what she believes to be their natural bad tendencies. She has no desire to be loved, nor even liked. Her only purpose is to serve God by being vigilant, and she is certain that she is right.

Caught in between is the earnest young Sister James, the eighth grade teacher who is being taken to task by the principal for being too enthusiastic about learning, and too kind and caring to her pupils.

“That is not your job” warns Sister Aloysius. “If what you want is to be liked, the students will learn to lie to you.”

This conference leads to a discussion of Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius has her suspicions. She doesn’t trust the nature of his relationship with one of the boys and she enlists Sister James to be alert for signs of inappropriate behavior.

To the audience, especially those familiar with old line parochial school nuns, Sister Aloysius is a monstrously wicked old bat, preoccupied with her abomination of ball point pens, art and gym classes, and boys. Father Flynn, on the other hand, is a breath of fresh air, anxious to instill the values of progressive education into the lives of both the students and their families.

Except… as the inscription on the playbill says, “Faith and Innocence are not always Black and White.”

As Father Flynn, Mark Saturno uses his charm and sincerity to win Sister James (Letitia Lange) to his side. She believes his indignant protestations of innocence, and even has the temerity to stand up to her superior to defend him.

But Glynis Bell, as the steadfast Sister Aloysius, is obdurate. She knows “evil” when she sees it, and she is determined to root it out for the sake of the children. (Or is it to vent her resentment of his new ideas and style?)

Another strong portrayal is given by Cherene Snow, as the mother of the boy who the priest is accused of corrupting. She too refuses to accept the principal’s position, saying that she is more interested in hurting the priest than in helping her son.

Shanley is masterful in letting the story unfold in such a way that the truth is never really clear, at least beyond all shadow of doubt. For ninety minutes, the audience is kept on the edge of their seats, wrestling with what they hear, and trying to decide what they know. And when the play  finished, everyone in the house joined in the standing ovation.

(Performances continue until December 23.

Visit TheaterWorksHartford.org for full performance and ticket details.)