By Arlene McKanic
There is a “Star Trek” novel in which Ambassador Sarek, father of Spock, is described as having “a thoroughgoing belief in his own rightness.” Such is the case with the inflexible Sister Aloysius, the anti-heroine of John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Doubt,” now at the BroadHollow Theatre.
The story takes place at a crucial time for the country and for the Catholic Church. It’s 1964. Vatican II is aborning, President Kennedy is dead, the Beatles have landed and St. Nicholas School has just acquired its first and only black student, a vulnerable young boy.
Yet Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the school’s principal, is determined that her domain be a place of calm, moral rectitude and rigid hierarchy. It’s no wonder that she distrusts Father Flynn, the charming, handsome and suspiciously well-groomed priest even before she convinces herself that he’s “interfered with” her student, a conviction that rises to the level of a one-person witch hunt.
“Doubt” was written and performed when it seemed that every parish in America harbored a pedophile priest, but in 1964 the crime was usually savagely hushed up. Sister Aloysius knows this even as she threatens to take her case to the bishop. She also knows the male authorities of her church will probably side with Father Flynn anyway. Still, she’s on a mission from God, and such is her need for certitude that she won’t be deterred even at the cost of her soul.
The only question that needs to be answered is who will be destroyed first — the nun, the priest or the innocent boy.
Shanley also touches on the battle of the sexes that takes place between these celibate adults. The sexual segregation at St. Nicholas is absolute; the priests can’t visit the convent, the nuns can’t visit the rectory, and every meeting between a nun and a priest must be witnessed by a third party. “Men run everything,” Sister Aloysius reminds the sweet young nun Sister James, and nothing demonstrates this more than the funny/awful scene where Father Flynn shows up in Sister Aloysius’ office, sits in her throne-like chair, and the nuns nearly trip over themselves to serve him tea.
The performances are riveting. Sheila Sheffield’s stony-bosomed and ramrod-straight Sister Aloysius is the avatar of every terrifying nun you’ve ever met, but there’s also a quaver, perhaps of humanity, as she warns Sister James of another nun’s incipient blindness and in her concern for the boy.
Maryellen Molfetta is wonderful as Sister James, with her love for her students — disapproved of by her superior — and almost unconscious attraction to the beleaguered Father Flynn. T. Patrick Shore is also good as the priest, whose panic in the face of Sister Aloysius’ intractability is balanced later on by his surety that he’ll prevail over her anyway — he’s a man, after all.
Melissa Scott is moving as the boy’s resigned mother, who’s just happy that her son has been accepted into a school that will pave his way to a good high school and then probably college. If a priest is paying him the sort of attention that other people find inappropriate, so be it.
The performances are pulled together by Shanley’s brilliant dialogue and tart but subtle humor and Doug Lillie’s confident direction. Also noteworthy are Lillie’s and Brian Howard’s scenic design of arches, doors and windows that suggest office, church and cloister, and Hemraj Budram’s autumnal lighting design. “Doubt” is a departure for the Broadhollow, which specializes in rowdy comedies and musicals, but it’s a very worthwhile departure. It’ll be on until Sept. 28.
If You Go:
Doubt — A Play by John Patrick Shanley
When: Through Sept. 28; Wed., Fri. & Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m.
Where: BroadHollow Theatre, 700 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont
Cost: $25 for adults, $22 for seniors, $18 for students and $14 for youths under 16
Contact: Box Office, 516-775-4420 or www.broadhollow.org
