|
|
 |
Editor's Pick |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Top Ten Things to Do
|
|
| |
Recommended
Reviewed by Tom
Williams, ChicagoCritic.com
May 9, 2008
|
“Doubt requires more courage than conviction
does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt
is infinite – it is a passionate exercise.”
-- John Patrick
Shanley
Fine performances
fuel Doubt
John Patrick Shanley’s superb parable Doubt, under Greg Kolack’s tight direction on
Anders Jacobson’s appropriate church-like set, is a riveting parable. Redtwist Theatre continues its high
production levels with this play. Doubt is a wonderfully constructed
drama. I can’t remember a more polished, succinct script than
Shanley’s. This is one of the finest plays of the last decade. It is a
thought provoking work that still has me thinking about it hours after
leaving the theatre.
Set in a Catholic Parish Grade School in 1964, Doubt finds Sister
Aloysius (Jan Ellen Graves in a strong
and convincing performance) as the old fashioned disciplinarian
principal who rules her school with an iron fist. Her hands-on approach
is intimidating as Sister James (Devon Candura) finds out. The young
nun uses modern methods including kindness and passion to teach the
eight graders and Sister Aloysius demands that she “keep an eye out”
for any unusual behavior from either her male students or Father Flynn (C. Sean Piereman in a nuanced and
effectively shaded turn). Sister Aloysius is “certain” that
Father Flynn has crossed the line with inappropriate behavior with at
least one boy.
Doubt deals
with how we use our personal values and biases to possibly cloud our
judgment about people. Does the end justify the means? Just because
someone is intuitively certain doesn’t mean the accusation is true.
Without proof, doubt should prevail. Or should it?
Sister James tells Sister Aloysius about a boy who seemed disturbed
after a private talk in the rectory with Father Flynn. The boy also had
liquor on his breath. From this information, Sister Aloysius is firmly
convinced that Father Flynn is a child molester. The play deals with
the hint of abuse, character assassination without conclusive proof,
and the arrogance of a self-righteous, rigid-thinking nun.
Should one take a stand defying authority in the belief that one is
certain? Also, how does one defend one’s self from unproven
accusations? Once events start, it is difficult to stop the effects.
When doubt creeps into the mind of all concerned, the cruelty leads
uncertainty. But the damage is already done. These moral dilemmas offer
rich drama and thought provoking theatre. Smartly, Shanley doesn’t
neatly solve the issue. That is one of the show’s strengths. Redtwist’s cast does the piece justice.
Back to
top
|
| |
Intriguing Drama
by Jack Hafferkamp
EDGE Great Lakes Regional Editor
Wednesday May 14, 2008 |
Short of seeing something bad
happen, how does one really know what went on?
In a nutshell that is the premise of the intriguing drama called
"Doubt," now playing at the Redtwist Theatre.
To complicate the question, how about if we pose it in context of a
Catholic school and a teacher who may or may not have had improper
contact with a middle-school student?
If there is no hard evidence of improper behavior, how does one read
the tealeaves? Should one be overly protective of the student? Or does
one protect the reputation of a popular teacher/priest whose life and
work could be ruined by false accusations?
Given the on-going issues of sex abuse by Catholic priests, this is not
entirely an academic question, and the tight Redtwist production of
John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer-Prize and Tony-Award winning drama
underscores the moral ambiguity of the situation.
What makes this show work is that there is just enough doubt in the
situation - is he guilty, is she over reaching? - that there is no easy
answer.
The moral center of this production is Jan Ellen Graves as Sister
Aloysius, a stern, cold-eyed nun who is so sure of herself that she is
willing to wreck the career of Father
Flynn, well played by C. Sean Piereman.
What makes this show work is that there is just enough doubt in the
situation - is he guilty, is she over reaching? - that there is no easy
answer. How one understands the situation is all about each audience
member’s own reading of the scant evidence.
In many ways the most interesting character is the one with the least
stage time, the mother of the student. LaNisa
Frederick is masterful as the mom whose main concern is her son
- that he not be hurt in the power struggle between the priest and the
nun.
She accepts that her son is gay and she isn’t upset that someone,
anyone, even a gay priest may take an interest in her child. All she
wants is that he not be injured by the process.
If there is any complaint about this production, as directed by Greg
Kolack, it’s that on opening night the cast’s combined adrenaline
caused every one, particularly Piereman to race through the dialog.
Hopefully, by now it will all slow down a bit - and that is good
because this is a show with meat on its bones.
Back to
top
|
| |
Reviewed by Tony
Adler, Chicago Reader
May 8, 2008
|
Who'd have thought that little John
Patrick Shanley would grow up to be so serious? An Oscar winner in 1987
for writing the goofy romantic comedy, Moonstruck, Shanley was the
period's prince of whimsy. But this work, which won a 2005 Pulitzer,
deals with grim suspicions of pederasty at a Bronx Catholic school in
1964. Shanley's script gives due attention to the did-he-or-didn't-he
suspense of the situation--but what's really interesting is how it
undermines conventional wisdom. Putative certainties about everything
from mother love to Vatican II, what we think we know to how we think
we know it, all get turned quietly on their heads. Directed by Greg
Kolack, this Redtwist Theatre production sets out the issues cleanly
enough, though without much spark.
Back to
top
|
|
|
Recommended
a "Must See" Show
|
Did
someone say "moral ambiguity"?
John Patrick Shanley's whipcrack-fast debate
of a play, about a nun who suspects a parish priest of child abuse,
roared through Chicago last year in the Cherry Jones Broadway in
Chicago production. Redtwist Theatre's exponentially smaller
incarnation may not have the same star-wattage, but director Greg
Kolack takes full advantage of what he does have: a claustrophobic
venue. When you watch the crusading Sister Aloysisus (Jan Ellen Graves)
and the possibly guilty Father Flynn (C. Sean Piereman) tear into each
other from the front row of this 35-seater, you feel just like Sister
James, the young nun caught in the middle of the conflict: queasy,
uncertain and tense. It's just what the show needs.
|
| |
Recommended
May 23, 2008
By Betty Mohr, Theater critic
|
No
'Doubt' here
Gripping dramatic
suspense fuels this production
The balance of power between a nun and a priest
creates grave moral conflict and is a thriller of a mystery in the
intriguing and riveting revival of "Doubt." With its focus on the
sensationalism of pedophilia by a man of the cloth, the 90-minute,
intermission-less production at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago makes for a
very contemporary drama. The triumph of the play is in its highly
charged clash of iron wills, which creates gripping dramatic suspense.
Written by John Patrick Shanley ("On Golden Pond" and "Moonstruck"),
the work premiered in Chicago in a 2007 production at the LaSalle Bank
Theatre.
The play - in which one character is in search of moral rectitude and
another is in need of tolerance - is as compelling in the intimate Redtwist theater,
under Greg Kolack's sharp direction,
as it was in that large downtown Chicago venue.
Set in a parochial Catholic school in New York's Bronx borough in 1964,
the story centers on a nun who runs the school with an iron hand. She
is absolutely and unequivocally convinced a priest has and continues to
abuse a black student.
Casting his dramatic net on the priest scandals of late, Shanley posits
the possibility that an accuser may be as wrong as the accused. After
all, wasn't Chicago's Cardinal Joseph Bernardin falsely accused of a
crime he never committed? While the play is set against the backdrop of
the Catholic Church, Shanley's focus is more on the danger of having
one's beliefs so set in stone that one ends up blind to the truth and
possibly condemning the innocent.
With compelling Jan Ellen Graves playing the part of Sister Aloysius
and charming C. Sean Piereman portraying Father Flynn, the conflict of
wills should be even. But it doesn't exactly come across that way.
Graves plays Sister Aloysius with such absolute cruelty and Piereman
seems like such a nice, kind and well-meaning priest that this "Doubt"
doesn't have the characters on equal footing. Indeed, the priest seems
so nice and the nun so nasty that we can't help but pull for the priest.
The question upon which the drama revolves is whether the priest did or
didn't do it. Do we find out the truth at the end? No, but this play is
so thought-provoking, so well-crafted and so gripping that it is all
right if, by show's end, we, too, have doubts.
Back to
top
|
| |
coming soon
|
|
| |
coming soon |
|
| |
Top
10 Things to Do this Week
May 9, 2008
|
Under the category of
"THINK"...
Redtwist Theatre opens its performance of DOUBT, the ambiguous tale of
trust and morality, this weekend. See it with friends with whom you
enjoy a discussion: You'll have plenty of material for debate
afterwards. May 9 and May 10, 8 p.m.; May 11, 3 p.m. Tickets are $27 -
$30. 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., (773) 728-7529, www.redtwist.org.
|
|
|
|
| Back to
top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
