“Doubt: a parable”
By John Patrick Stanley
Free-Rain Theatre Company
The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, until April 29.
Reviewed by Simone Penkethman
“DOUBT: a parable” is a tightly written Pulitzer prize-winning script from 2005. It’s set in a fictional Catholic school in New York in the early 1960s. The issue in doubt is the appropriateness of a relationship between Father Flynn (Jarrad West) and an adolescent student.
The stern and staid Sister Aloysius (Naoné Carrel) suspects the popular young priest of preying on the isolated and vulnerable student, who we don’t see.
The gullible young Sister James (Hannah McCann) oscillates between sharing her superior’s suspicion and supporting Father Flynn’s claims of innocence.
A pivotal scene plays out between Sister Aloysius and the cameo, Mrs Ruiz (Ronnie Flor), the mother of the student in question. Flor is outstanding in the role and the tension between her and Carrel is palpable.
Notions of morality and duty of care are questioned when Mrs Ruiz reveals that her son is gay and that he has suffered violence at home and bullying in his previous school for “being what he is”.
According to her, the interest that Father Flynn has taken in her son may be the best thing for him.
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