2004 play by John Patrick Shanley
Doubt, A Parable
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Written by
| John Patrick Shanley
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Characters
| - Sister Aloysius
- Father Flynn
- Sister James
- Mrs. Muller
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Date premiered
| November 23, 2004
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Place premiered
| Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City, New York
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Original language
| English
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Subject
| A nun suspects a priest of molesting an altar boy
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Genre
| Drama
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Setting
| A Catholic school in the Bronx. Autumn 1964.
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Doubt, A Parable
is a dramatic
stage play
written by American playwright
John Patrick Shanley
. Originally staged
off-Broadway
at the
Manhattan Theatre Club
on November 23, 2004, the production transferred to the
Walter Kerr Theatre
on
Broadway
in March 2005 and closed on July 2, 2006 after 525 performances and 25 previews. The play won the 2005
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
and
Tony Award for Best Play
.
[1]
In 2008, the play was adapted as a feature film titled
Doubt
. It starred
Meryl Streep
as Sister Aloysius and
Philip Seymour Hoffman
as Father Flynn and was nominated for several
Academy Awards
.
Plot
[
edit
]
The play is set in the fictional St. Nicholas Church School, in the
Bronx
, during the fall of 1964. It opens with a sermon by Father Flynn, a beloved and progressive parish priest, addressing the importance of uncertainty: "Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty." The school's principal, Sister Aloysius, a rigidly conservative nun who is vowed to her order, the
Sisters of Charity
, insists upon constant vigilance. During a meeting with a younger nun, Sister James, Aloysius reveals a deep mistrust toward her students, her fellow teachers, and society in general. Naive and impressionable, James is easily upset by Aloysius's severe manner and harsh criticism.
Aloysius and Flynn are put into direct conflict when she learns from James that the priest had a one-to-one meeting with Donald Muller, St. Nicholas's first
African-American
student. Mysterious circumstances lead her to believe that
sexual misconduct
occurred. In a private meeting, purportedly regarding the
Christmas pageant
, Aloysius, in the presence of James, openly confronts Flynn with her suspicions. He angrily denies wrongdoing by insisting that he was disciplining Donald for drinking
altar wine
and claims to have been protecting the boy from harsher punishment. James is relieved by the explanation. Flynn's next sermon is on the evils of gossip.
Aloysius, dissatisfied with Flynn's story, meets with Donald's mother, Mrs. Muller. Despite Aloysius's attempts to shock her, Mrs. Muller says she supports her son's relationship with Flynn. She ignores Aloysius's accusations. Before departing, she hints that Donald may be "
that way
," which may cause her husband to be beating him.
Flynn eventually threatens to remove Aloysius from her position if she does not back down. Aloysius informs him that she phoned the last parish to which he was assigned and that she discovered a history of past infringements. After declaring his innocence, the priest begins to plead with her, but she blackmails him and demands that he resign immediately, or she will publicly disgrace him with his history. Disgusted, she leaves the office. Flynn calls the bishop to apply for a transfer, and is subsequently promoted to pastor of a nearby parochial school.
After hearing the news, Aloysius reveals to Sister James that the decisive phone call to Flynn's previous parish was a fabrication and that she has no evidence of past wrongdoing. As a result, Aloysius is left with ambiguous doubt, and the audience is left to wonder if the doubt is in either herself or the Church. With no proof of Father Flynn's guilt or innocence, the audience is left with its own doubt.
Cast
[
edit
]
Characters
- Sister Aloysius Beauvier: The head nun and principal of St Nicholas School. Driven by a high sense of duty but rigid and conservative.
- Father Brendan Flynn: A middle-aged priest. Articulate and personable.
- Sister James
: A young impressionable nun. Enthusiastic but inexperienced teacher.
- Mrs. Muller: The mother of Donald Muller, the school's first black student.
Productions
[
edit
]
The
New York City
production, directed by
Doug Hughes
, was performed in a one-act performance running approximately ninety minutes. In interviews, the cast said the second act took place when the audience left the theatre and began to discuss their differing opinions of the events, with some people agreeing with Aloysius and others siding with Flynn. Upon publication, Shanley changed the title from
Doubt
to
Doubt: A Parable
. The four original cast members were
Cherry Jones
as Sister Aloysius,
Brian F. O'Byrne
as Father Flynn,
Heather Goldenhersh
as Sister James, and
Adriane Lenox
as Mrs. Muller.
[2]
[3]
This production had scenic design by
John Lee Beatty
, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Pat Collins, and original music and sound design by
David Van Tieghem
.
In 2006,
Eileen Atkins
,
Ron Eldard
, and
Jena Malone
joined the cast and replaced Jones, O'Byrne, and Goldenhersh, respectively. In the fall of 2006, Jones headed the national touring company, consisting of
Chris McGarry
, Lisa Joyce, and Caroline Stefanie Clay.
Doubt
won the 2007
Touring Broadway Award
as Best Play.
The West Coast premiere was directed by
Claudia Weill
and took place at the
Pasadena Playhouse
. Another production was staged at Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, California in 2010. It was directed by Artistic Associate Jenny Sullivan and starred
Joseph Fuqua
as Father Flynn and
Robin Pearson Rose
as Sister Aloysius.
In 2007, the play was staged in
Venezuela
, in the Cellarg Theatre, with Elba Escobar, Luigi Sciamanna, Mariaca Semprun and Beatriz Vazquez.
The Australian premiere was mounted at the
Sydney Opera House
by the Sydney Theatre Company on February 4, 2006. The cast included Alison Bell, Jennifer Flowers, and Christopher Garbardi, and was directed by Julian Meyrick. This was followed by the Asian debut of
Doubt
in
Singapore
on March 21, 2006, by ACTION Theatre, directed by Samantha Scott-Blackhall, with Nora Samosir as Sister Aloysius, Lim Yu-Beng as Father Flynn and Pam Oei as Sister James. The next production was in the
Philippines
on June 2, 2006. Doubt ran at the Auckland Theater Company in New Zealand, from March 16 to April 8, 2006, directed by
Colin McColl
, with
Latham Gaines
as Father Flynn,
Elizabeth Hawthorne
as Sister Aloysius, Kate Prior as Sister James and Goretti Chadwick as Mrs Muller.
[4]
In the
Czech Republic
, the play was premiered in 2007 by
National Theatre
in
Prague
with Jaromira Milova, Jan Novotny, Magdalena Borova and Eva Salzmannova. In 2012 it was staged by a Czech non-professional theater group
[5]
with Andrea Je?abkova, Libor Ulovec, Lucie Koderova and Martha Coutin Caicedo in the roles. The latter was awarded the Best Czech Non-Professional Drama Performance 2012.
The play was staged in the
Philippines
in 2006 by Atlantis Productions. This production starred
Cherie Gil
as Sister Aloysius and played at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater at the
RCBC Plaza
in June 2006.
[6]
The play premiered in Britain at the
Tricycle Theatre
. Directed by
Nicolas Kent
, it starred
Dearbhla Molloy
as Sister Aloysius,
Nikki Amuka-Bird
as Mrs Muller,
Padraic Delaney
as Father Flynn and Marcella Plunkett as Sister James.
[7]
The production ran from November 22, 2007, to January 12, 2008.
The play was directed by
Roman Polanski
during its run at the
Theatre Hebertot
in
Paris
in late 2006. In April 2007, it was staged in
Warsaw
,
Poland
, by producer
Gene Gutowski
, at Polonia Theatre.
A production directed by Mel Hooley with
Zimbabwean
actors Kevin Hanssen and Anne Fischer was staged at
Dorchester
Arts in
Dorset
from August 19?21, 2010, supported by the
British Council
.
A production opened in Sydney, Australia, at the
Old Fitzroy Theatre
on May 12, 2017. The cast, Belinda Giblin (Sister Aloysius), Matilda Ridgway (Sister James), Damian de Montemas (Father Flynn) and
Charmaine Bingwa
(Mrs Muller), was directed by Dino Dimitriadis.
On June 1, 2023, the
Roundabout Theatre Company
announced that the play would receive its first Broadway revival at the
Todd Haimes Theatre
as part of its 2023?2024 season, starring
Tyne Daly
as Sister Aloysius and
Liev Schreiber
as Father Flynn.
[8]
[9]
However, the first preview was cancelled, and on February 6, 2024, it was announced that Daly had to exit the production due to hospitalization.
Isabel Keating
, Daly's understudy, took over the role until February 11, 2024, with
Amy Ryan
assuming the role full time on February 13, 2024.
[10]
[11]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
2005 Broadway production
[
edit
]
2024 Broadway revival
[
edit
]
Adaptations
[
edit
]
A
2008 film adaptation
by
Miramax
stars
Meryl Streep
as Sister Aloysius,
Philip Seymour Hoffman
as Father Flynn,
Amy Adams
as Sister James and
Viola Davis
as Mrs. Miller (the name was changed in the film). Production began on December 1, 2007, with playwright John Patrick Shanley directing and
Scott Rudin
producing.
[12]
An
opera based on the play
, commissioned by the
Minnesota Opera
, premiered in 2013, with music by
Douglas J. Cuomo
to a
libretto
by Shanley.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Simonson, Robert
(April 4, 2005).
"
Doubt
wins the Pulitzer Prize"
.
Playbill
. Archived from
the original
on August 29, 2008.
- ^
Marks, Peter (December 16, 2004).
"An Unshakable 'Doubt'
"
.
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Brantley, Ben
(November 4, 2004).
"A Nun Who Is Certain, Even If Truth Is Not"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"Auckland Theatre Company presents Doubt"
.
Scoop
. March 3, 2006
. Retrieved
June 2,
2008
.
- ^
"Soliteater homepage"
.
- ^
Abunda, Boy (May 31, 2006).
"Cherie Gil Sheds Villaness Persona for Doubt"
. Philippine Star & Philippine Headline News Online. Archived from
the original
on December 19, 2008
. Retrieved
December 16,
2008
.
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"Photo Flash: 'Doubt'
"
.
Broadway World
. November 23, 2007.
- ^
"Doubt: A Parable"
.
www.roundabouttheatre.org
. Retrieved
June 1,
2023
.
- ^
Harms, Talaura (June 1, 2023).
"Tony Winners Tyne Daly and Liev Shreiber Will Return to Broadway in Doubt: A Parable"
.
Playbill
. Retrieved
June 1,
2023
.
- ^
Culwell-Brock, Logan (February 6, 2024).
"Tyne Daly Exiting Broadway Revival of Doubt; Amy Ryan Taking Over ? The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of John Patrick Shanley's play began previews February 3"
.
Playbill
. Retrieved
February 6,
2024
.
- ^
Green, Jesse (March 7, 2024).
"Review: In 'Doubt,' What He Knows, She Knows, God Knows ? Liev Schreiber and Amy Ryan star in a revival of John Patrick Shanley's moral head spinner about pride, the priesthood and presumptions of pedophilia"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on March 8, 2024
. Retrieved
March 10,
2024
.
- ^
Pincus-Roth, Zachary
(April 19, 2007).
"Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman to Star in
Doubt
Film"
.
Playbill
. Archived from
the original
on April 27, 2007
. Retrieved
April 19,
2007
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Shanley, John Patrick (2005).
Doubt: A Parable
. New York: Theatre Communications.
ISBN
978-1-55936-276-4
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Awards for
Doubt: A Parable
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