‘Doubt’ at Farmer’s Alley balanced and beautiful
John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable is a tricky play to do. It’s one that requires the cast and crew to set aside their own beliefs about guilt and innocence and present as fairly balanced a show as possible so that the challenge of figuring things out lies firmly with the audience.
In the hands of Farmer’s Alley Director D. Terry Williams, this balance is beautifully achieved. He doesn’t try to sway us in one direction or another.
In Doubt, two main characters lock horns. Sister Aloysius is the principal of a middle school and she is everything we have heard about strict nuns who scared the children in the schools they ran. She is played by Dwandra Nickois Lampkin who ensures that the sister is strong and possessing dragon-like characteristics.
Her adversary is Father Flynn, played by Andy Hoff, who represents the “new church” that was emerging in the mid-1960s in the wake of Vatican II. He is young, charismatic and warm and goes against all of Aloysius’ principles.
But the crux of the conflict is that she suspects him of being inappropriate with the students. She is certain he is an abuser, even though she cannot prove it.
She recruits the young and innocent 8th grade teacher Sister James, played by Tamsen Glaser, into her service, asking her to keep an eye open for anything suspicious.
The cast is rounded out by the appearance in a single, powerful scene by Julianne Howe-Bouwens, who plays the mother of the boy that Aloysius suspects is being abused.
It is a play that reminds us that while it is easy in hindsight for us to say what the people surrounding an abuser should have done to protect the children in their care, it is not always as easy in the situation to know what is the right thing to do. Not only is it not always clear that someone is an abuser, but there is a great danger in accusing someone who is innocent.
Shanley further complicates the plot by not ever letting the audience know what the story is from the viewpoint of the boy who might have been abused, and gives very credible reasons why he is not asked. If that viewpoint were to be shared, the play’s complexity would be lost, for we know now that we need to believe victims—and those who tell us they are not victims, but rather someone who is vulnerable reaching out to a person who cares.
The Farmer’s Alley show opens to a beautiful set with a new configuration of seating that lets the audience surround the stage on three sides rather than the usual two. Dan Guyette fills the small stage with three separate locations, each richly designed, without ever making it feel crowded.
Hoff ensures that Father Flynn is a complex character. He’s young and likeable, but quickly shows he is part of the patriarchy and bristles when his authority is questioned. Hoff constantly seeks that balance so that all of his Flynn’s actions and reactions can be interpreted in more than one way. Is it natural defensiveness and moral outrage? Is it something more cunning? Is he hiding something? Or is he keeping confidences out of a genuine concern for the members of his flock? Is he charismatic or is he manipulative? Hoff isn’t going to let the audience jump to easy conclusions.
Lampkin also makes sure the audience has to struggle with the answers, because her character is not immediately a likable one. She says many things that outrages the modern ear as her philosophies are everything we don’t want our teachers to be. But—she is the lion, the dragon, you want on your side if you are in need of a defender. She is unbending, starched with moral fiber and doesn’t show any weakness.
At one point, Sister Aloysius tells Father Flynn that she will do what she thinks is the right thing even if she is damned for it. She isn’t out for anyone’s approval—not the church’s, not even her God’s. It’s a powerful role and Lampkin brings the fire to it.
The casting of Lampkin, who is flawless in the role, present a slight challenge to the script. Color-blind casting creates greater inclusiveness. Casting an African-American as the principal is at odds with a twist in the script–that the boy Flynn may or may not have molested is the school’s only African-American student. Casting Lampkin puts that twist under different light that the script doesn’t address. Does Director Williams not want us to focus on that element of the story? Or perhaps Lampkin’s talent for the role simply over-rode that consideration?
The show runs 80 minutes without an intermission and the Farmers Alley production has all the power that this show is designed to have. It asks without answering tough questions about what our responsibilities are—to victims, to each other, to the truth. It wrestles with the ethics of destroying someone’s reputation when there is doubt to be had over the person’s guilt.
It is a show that is intensely relevant today as the headlines keep coming about revelatory investigations by the Catholic Church, as well as now The Baptist Church. The current Pope is having to deal with revelations new and Farmer’s Alley ensures the play lives up to its title, making it an important show that is well worth seeing, no matter how cold or icy it gets outdoors.