Doubt

Shanley’s pitch-perfect pederastic parable leaves no moral stone unturned. The play traces Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s unrelenting attempts to rid her Bronx middle school of young hotshot Father Flynn, a priest she suspects molested the sole black student in her purebred Irish and Italian institution. Vexing motives and thorny questions abound: What combination of groundless mistrust and boundless maternalism drives this icy matron to suspect the priest? What interplay of shrewd class-consciousness and doting maternal instinct prevents the boy’s mother from supporting Aloysius’s calls for Flynn’s removal? And did Father Flynn actually do it? Shanley’s taut morality tale refuses to skimp on layers of character insight as it drives its intricate, even contradictory messages home.

Redtwist’s actors barrel through their lines with a rapid confidence fit for a far preachier, simpler play. Piereman as Father Flynn emotes with a painted-on, teacherly gusto; this smarmy appeal might work if it ever dissolved into something more sincere. The actor’s speed-demon sermons and zippy skirmishes barely clue us in on the conflicted desires driving Flynn’s undoubtedly mysterious, allegedly illegal behavior. Graves hits appropriately frigid notes as Sister Aloysius, but likewise breezes over her character’s ethically dense monologues to usher the audience to the fable’s instructive ending.

Shanley’s faultless script holds its own among actors whose hurried but committed portrayals capture at least several of Doubt’s numerous themes. If only Redtwist’s even production afforded the audience a little more time for reflection, a slightly less hasty reading and a little more room for doubt.