Photo/Allison Young
Beyond reasonable
Father Flynn (Adam Neace) is warm, progressive and tolerant. But maybe there’s something off about him in Doubt: A Parable.
Doubt: A Parable
Doubt: A Parable may be one of the most tightly crafted and purposeful plays you will have by the opportunity to see. A small, quiet play, Mark Dunagan it features an efficient, whip-smart script by John Patrick Shanley, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Brüka Theatre and director Sandra Brunell Neace have taken this lean, mean machine of a play and wrapped it up in a near-perfect package of minimalism, elegance and brilliantly understated performances. Doubt debuted off Broadway in 2004 in Doubt: a Parable runs the wake of the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse at Brüka theatre scandal. While it’s set 40 years earlier, it through March 23. For plays on the same anxieties to which the tickets or more public grew accustomed this century. information, visit Sister Aloysius (Moira Bengochea) is the www.bruka.org. Fuel hard-edged principal LA023107B of a Catholic school,5 and Sister James (Stacy Johnson) is a young 67” (4c process) teacher whose enthusiasm irks Aloysius. af/jb/jb We quickly learn that an awful lot of things irk her, including her superior, Father Flynn (Adam Neace). In a development that feels sadly familiar, Aloysius is particularly
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concerned about Flynn’s relationship with a new student. Aloysius, the consummate severe authoritarian, would seem fanatical if she weren’t so self-possessed. We’re introduced to Flynn in the form of a sermon about the play’s titular mental state. The sermon, praising the humanity and virtue of doubting, is delivered as though the audience were the congregation. This would feel too on the nose if it weren’t behold. Sister James, functioning as a standso perfectly written and so deftly handled in for the audience, wishes she were more by Adam Neace. Throughout, Neace plays like Aloysius, so secure in her ironclad things expertly close to the vest. He’s an certainty. Aloysius knows Flynn is deviant appealing contrast to Aloysius: warm, like she knows that “Frosty the Snowman” progressive, tolerant—yet maybe there’s is paganism at its most insidious. Viewers something off about him. Or maybe that’s may side with her simply because her Aloysius getting into our heads. will is so strong. When Flynn is onstage, Given the3/14/2013 widespread real life accusathough, the viewer’s conviction can falter tions against the Catholic Church, it’sFREEP0001 all KHOWARD too easy to get behind Aloysius’ railroading even though Aloysius’ never does. Mining This is the genius of Shanley’s play: of Father Flynn. While this preconception It doesn’t want you to know the answers. is Shanley’s trump card, reducing the play The text gives you just enough to form an to cultural commentary would be selling opinion, then just enough more to doubt it short. Doubt concerns itself with the yourself, and so forth. It’s a master class in concept of uncertainty. Sister Aloysius has audience manipulation in the best way. none, and it’s an almost enviable thing to
Sandra Brunell Neace deserves a huge measure of credit for the production’s success. As good as Shanley’s play is, it could easily devolve into a hackneyed cat-and-mouse tale if not handled properly. Likewise, the four cast members play their parts meticulously, with nary a misstep. In particular, the quality of Bengochea’s performance as Aloysius cannot be overstated. Her lines come with precision and force. She is a true pleasure to watch, and when her humanity ultimately comes through, it is chill-inducing. Early on, Aloysius tells Sister James that God gave her a heart and a brain. The heart can be warm, she says, but the wit must be cold. Aloysius naturally embodies this, but the real coup is how Doubt itself embodies it. The viewer might be inclined to play detective because of the natural tendency to “have to know,” but this Swiss watch of a play challenges that tendency, and illustrates how our dogged pursuit of certainty sometimes clouds the truth. Ω
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