Doubt: A Parable – 02 April 2024

In a theatre education, it’s very difficult to escape reading John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, because it is a master class in subtext. I read Doubt for the first time in high school, which was quickly followed by three collegiate courses at two different universities. I never get bored of this story and its lessons, and how rich and clear the implications are even though no one ever says out loud what they are worried about. It’s amazing how clear John Patrick Shanley can be.

I was amazed at the absolute faithfulness and conviction of Roundabout’s Broadway revival at the newly renamed Todd Haimes Theatre. Every word, every action, every moment, seemed perfectly aligned with the playwright’s intentions. I had forgotten how funny this story is, and it was a real treat to see a play that is so frequently produced at an academic/amateur level on a real Broadway stage. I loved the sound design, the lighting design, and the way the set moved, particularly moments where we could see a character in the window as the set transitioned from the office to the courtyard.

The higher caliber of actors gave me two distinct insights I had not previously noticed in my readings and watchings of Doubt. One was when Donald’s mother (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) was talking about how he could survive anything until June. There was a nuance here that I hadn’t thought about when she said “you wouldn’t understand” as an admission that her husband beats her as well as Donald. She was effectively saying that she personally takes abuse and therefore gets to decide for her son the relative safety of the abuse of her husband verses the potential abuse of the priest; she is uniquely qualified to understand whose abuse is safest and will lead to the most opportunities for her son. But I never put together that she is being abused, and that the real reason Donald’s father wasn’t at the meeting was not her innocuous comment that he had work but actually because she wanted to avoid giving her husband more reasons to beat her and her child.

The other theme I noticed was extremely prevalent in this production and I can’t believe I never thought about this before. Sister Aloysius (Amy Ryan) does not care about the students. She is entirely self-serving, and her need to get Father Flynn (Liev Schreiber) out of St. Nicholas is about how it would reflect on her school and her specifically. At the end, it was totally fine with her that Father Flynn was still working with kids and got a promotion to work with more kids because it no longer effected her school and her reputation. Kids can get molested, just not where it could have implications for her career. Her desire to take Father Flynn down was never about morality. It was about her being able to hold her head high. She knew that once Father Flynn knew of her suspicions she had to fully commit because it would be infinitely easier for him to get rid of a nun than for her to get rid of a priest—she cared more about keeping her position than the potential danger to the students.

Amy Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Zoe Kazan, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine really presented this piece in a relevant and powerfully profound way. This is the most faithful revival I have ever seen, no doubt about it! I loved the comedic moments that live in the subtext and the questions that masterful writing left my grappling with. It’s incredible to me that, with my level of familiarity with this work, it still raises questions in my head and in my heart. To me, that’s the hallmark of a true classic—it stands the test of time and each time I see it I discover something slightly new. Scott Ellis’s direction here simultaneously breathed life into the text as written and allowed new insights in the spaces between the text, and it was truly masterful.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.