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The Herald Scotland
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Doubt, A Parable at Dundee Rep review: 'quietly thrilling evocation'
Faith and belief are at the heart of John Patrick Shanley's 2004 play, seen here for the first time in Scotland since 2010. Set in a Catholic school in the Bronx district of New York in 1964, Shanley's play pointedly frames itself a year after the assassination of President John F Kennedy. This is highlighted in an opening sermon by the progressive Father Flynn, who questions putting what is sometimes blind faith in old certainties. This is a red rag for Sister Aloysius, who rules the school with a tight-lipped authoritarianism that won't allow room for any new ways of thinking, whatever Vatican 2 might say. This leads her to embark on a campaign against Father Flynn with the intent of ousting him from office. To do this, she manipulates her young charge Sister James into reluctant complicity with her damning claims regarding Father Flynn's alleged conduct before what is effectively a trial by hearsay ensues. Read more reviews from Neil Cooper: This makes for an intense ninety minutes in Joanna Bowman's concentrated production, as Shanley's spare text is passed between the four people on stage like increasingly poisoned sacraments. Designer Jessica Worrall's brutalist interior provides sanctuary for confession and conspiracy alike, with the only breath of fresh air coming from the occasional glimpse of a tree outside that marks the changing seasons. Each scene is punctuated by dramatic chorales brought to the fore by sound designer Richard Bell in a way that ramps up the play's all too earthly stakes. Ann Louise Ross makes for a deadly and unforgiving Sister Aloysius, with Michael Dylan giving as good as he gets as a steely Father Flynn. As Sister Aloysius turns him into a bogeyman, Emma Tracey lays bare Sister James' awakening from innocent idealism to the harsh realities of the political game she's caught up in. Mercy Ojelade adds further complications to an already volatile mix as Mrs Muller, the mother of the only black child in the school, and whose relationship with Father Flynn kick-starts Sister Aloysius' obsession. In the end, what actually did or didn't happen is never revealed in a quietly thrilling evocation of ideological power plays in which the only thing sacrificed is the truth.
The National
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
REVIEW: An electric drama of doubt and dilemma at Dundee Rep
A brilliantly structured drama of suspicion, conflict and soul-searching within a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, the play contains moral complexities and an underlying political charge that are akin to David Mamet's 1992 opus Oleanna. The play pits Sister Aloysius (the austere, conservative principal of the fictional St Nicholas Church School, played by Ann Louise Ross) against Michael Dylan's seemingly liberal and compassionate priest Father Flynn. Add to this Sister James (a young and idealistic teacher who is caught between her own instincts and the influence of Sister Aloysius) and Mrs Muller (the mother of the sole Black child in his class, whom Sister Aloysius suspects is being sexually abused by Father Flynn). The tensions and conflicting motivations build powerfully in Shanley's script. Designer Jessica Worrall's set – an apparent concrete monolith which represents Sister Aloysius's office, but opens out, with unexpected versatility, to become the school's garden – becomes a charismatic fifth character. This production captures brilliantly the sense of uncertainty that runs like an erratically woven thread through the play. The principal – a Second World War widow who turned to Holy orders – embarks on a campaign to bring down the suspected priest armed with nothing more than circumstantial evidence (the child, Donald Muller, returned to Sister James's class following a one-to-one meeting with Father Flynn with the smell of alcohol on his breath). We, the audience, like Sister James, are pulled in various ethical directions as Flynn's plausible explanation and moral indignation clash with Aloysius's seeming certainty. READ MORE: A ballet full of audacious dances of death and defiance The testimony of Mrs Muller – regarding Donald's home life and his need of both the school and Flynn's support – introduces another level of ethical, social and racial complexity to an already electric narrative. The doubt of the play's title belongs to us, the audience, as much as it does to the characters themselves. All of which demands acting performances of great nuance and depth. Ross's Aloysius has granite hardness and a line in brook-no-argument sarcasm that is often bleakly comic. Coupled with her underlying decency and moral bravery, the character manages – in Ross's canny characterisation – to split one's sympathies in two. The excellent Dylan impresses similarly in the role of Flynn, who the actor plays – as if on a theatrical high-wire – balanced precariously between persecuted innocence and perilously concealed guilt. The anguished equivocations of Sister James and the painfully acquired pragmatism of Mrs Muller (whose soul is caught in a vice constructed of racism, poverty, domestic abuse and a burning desire to save her son from all three) are depicted excellently by Emma Tracey and Mercy Ojelade respectively. Shanley's play is a resonating and delicately balanced thing of beauty. Thankfully, this excellent Dundee Rep production tackles it with all of the necessary subtlety and confidence. Until May 10:
