I often include part of a play's promotional blurb when explaining why I have gone to see it, this time I give the full text:
Despite having booked it only a few days before, I had no idea what the play was going to be about. I turned out to be on the somewhat challenging subject of abuse of children within the Catholic Church.
The priest under suspicion certainly had reasons for being under suspicion but was the sister being overzealous in her accusations? There was reasonable doubt both ways and that is what the play was all about.
Caught up in the dispute were a young teacher and the possible victim's mother.
These were four strong roles played strongly from the very start. The power of the play came from these four characters with their deep motivations and beliefs as they clashed and collided with each other. There was a lot of shouting.
As the play progressed we learned more about the possible abuse but never enough to erase the doubt. We were asked to choose which of the two, the priest or the sister, we believed and which should be punished. The system favoured the priest but that did not making him guilty.
It was a powerful production and it was easy to see why it won so many awards. If I have to be petty, the movement was a little unnatural as the players tried to satisfy all of the audience which sat on all sides. That was a small price to pay for being allowed to be so close to the action.
Stella Gonet as Sister Aloysius was at the centre of the play and was simply magnificent.
Doubt, A Parable was disturbing drama and that is why I loved it.
John Patrick Shanley’s masterpiece is one of the most acclaimed plays in recent memory. Winning 4 Tony Awards including Best Play, named Best Play by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Best New Play (Drama Desk Awards) and Outstanding Play (Lucille Lortel Awards). Doubt, A Parable won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.I was not going to miss that if I could avoid it. Luckily Southward Playhouse has performances on Mondays when many theatres do not so I went on a Monday. I went for a seat in the front row, as usual, and seat A20 in The Large was a more and reasonable £20. Incidentally, you have to admire a theatre that calls its two spaces The Little and The Large.
The priest under suspicion certainly had reasons for being under suspicion but was the sister being overzealous in her accusations? There was reasonable doubt both ways and that is what the play was all about.
Caught up in the dispute were a young teacher and the possible victim's mother.
These were four strong roles played strongly from the very start. The power of the play came from these four characters with their deep motivations and beliefs as they clashed and collided with each other. There was a lot of shouting.
As the play progressed we learned more about the possible abuse but never enough to erase the doubt. We were asked to choose which of the two, the priest or the sister, we believed and which should be punished. The system favoured the priest but that did not making him guilty.
It was a powerful production and it was easy to see why it won so many awards. If I have to be petty, the movement was a little unnatural as the players tried to satisfy all of the audience which sat on all sides. That was a small price to pay for being allowed to be so close to the action.
Stella Gonet as Sister Aloysius was at the centre of the play and was simply magnificent.
Doubt, A Parable was disturbing drama and that is why I loved it.
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