--Sister Aloysius
Tonight, I saw the play Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley, who also wrote screenplays such as Moonstruck and Joe Versus The Volcano. It showed at the Seattle Rep in Seattle Center. Nice theater... not too big, not too small.
The play is dense with issues. Let's start off with the plot: Sister Aloysius, who is the principle of a catholic school, draws another sister into a suspicion that Father Flynn is making advances on the only black boy in the school. The other nun, Sister James, is quite "innocent," not wanting to deal with any conflict. Sister Aloysius embarks on a mission to expose Father Flynn, with or without Sister James' help.
For most of the play, it's hard to decide who to believe in. Sister Aloysius does not want to tell the proper authority, who is male, because she is certain that he will believe Father Flynn--here we have the issue of the male hierarchy and superiority in the Catholic Church. On the other hand, her evidence at times lacks validity, but she fiercely believes in her conviction that Father Flynn is a predator. How can we trust her when she is so determined to expose this man's faults, solely based on her gut feeling
Then there's Father Flynn, who likes to wear his fingernails long, swing his hips when he plays basketball, and hold private meetings with young boys alone in the rectory. If there was ever a candidate for a perv, he definitely appears as one. He's as determined to prove himself innocent as Sister Aloysius is to prove him guilty. That makes us question his innocence. If he is telling the truth about his actions, why doesn't he allow the nun to continue her investigation? It also seems like a witch hunt, and Sister Aloysius is just out to burn Father Flynn.
The contrast of extremes between the two characters makes for a compelling play. After all, Shanley did win a Pulitzer for it. I wanted to clap and shout, "Good job!" during the tensest moments.
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