Gammage brings “Doubt” and suspicion to our prejudices

Set in a Bronx Catholic school during the fall of 1964, “Doubt”, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winning play by John Patrick Shanley, was recently performed at ASU's Gammage Theater as part of the Off Broadway series. Starring the original cast of Tony award winning Cherry Jones as Sister Aloysius, Brían F. O'Byrne as Father Flynn, Heather Goldenhersh as Sister James, and Adriane Lenox as Mrs. Muller, “Doubt” focuses on the moral certainty, prejudice, and ultimately, doubt that we experience when our suspicions cannot be proven.

The play begins with the likeable, thick Bronx-accented Parish Priest, Father Flynn conducting a sermon on uncertainty. We then witness Sister Aloysius, the severe and overbearing principal, lecturing Sister James, a young teacher, on the values of teaching children in a strict environment. It becomes clear that Father Flynn's and Sister James' ideologies are in direct opposition to Sister Aloysius'. Each hold modern views of the Church as a friendly place, free of judgment, while Sister Aloysius values the hierarchy and moral supremacy the Church has traditionally represented.

Suspicions arise when Sister James confides to Sister Aloysius (after some prodding) that she witnessed Father Flynn and Donald Muller, the school's only black student, return from a private meeting. When she admits to smelling alcohol on Donald's breath, Sister Aloysius begins a ruthless campaign to oust Father Flynn from the Parish. With absolutely no evidence but her instinct and possible prejudice against Father Flynn, she begins to build her case by meeting privately with Donald's mother. When Mrs. Muller reveals that her young son may enjoy the special attention he receives from Father Flynn, Sister Aloysius sets out to force Flynn to confess.

At a glance, “Doubt” seems to focus on the hot-button issue of child abuse in the Catholic church, but upon closer examination it is simply an event that Shanley uses to pose much larger moral and ethical questions such as: Can we ever really be sure our judgment of others is not colored by our prejudices? Do moral standards help or hinder us in seeing each other's motives and actions clearly? What constitutes an improper relationship? How do our beliefs, religious or otherwise, help us to justify our behavior?

“Doubt” played to a nearly full house at Gammage and received a standing ovation on its opening night. The sets were beautifully rendered to resemble a church, courtyard, gym and school office. The cast was equally captivating and were delicately subtle in their delivery of the seemingly sparse lines that worked to convey complex plot twists and turns. The plot hinges on merely a few perfectly timed allusions delivered by each character. It is only in one or two scenes that Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn directly confront one another and raise their voices to a yell, culminating in the tensest theatre experience I have had to date. Outstanding talent brings Shanley's tight prose to life in a performance that is both thought-provoking, and yet utterly satisfying to witness.