Impassioned Ambiguities By Tom Wachunas “Doubt requires more courage thanconviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place anddoubt is infinite – it is a passionate exercise. You may come out of my playuncertain. You may want to be sure. Look down on that feeling. We’ve got tolearn to live with a full measure of uncertainty. There is no last word. That’sthe silence under the chatter of our time. ”― John Patrick Shanley, author of Doubt John PatrickShanley’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Doubt,is a 90-minute drama with no intermission. On one level, this riveting workcould be called an unresolved cerebral and emotional thriller. The story unfolds in 1964 at a Catholic schoolin the Bronx. The school principal, Sister Aloysius, accuses Father Flynn ofsexual misconduct with 12 year-old Donald Muller, the school’s sole blackstudent. Seemingly convinced that her allegations are provable, Sister Aloysiusembarks on a campaign to expose and oust Father Flynn. In the process sheattempts to rally support from the boy’s teacher, Sister James, and the boy’smother, Mrs. Muller, who has her own very compelling reasons for resistingSister Aloysius’ efforts. In a recent CantonRepository article (January 4) about the current Players Guild production ofthe play, director Craig Joseph said,“The idea is to create a production that itself creates doubt. It fails ifpeople walk out thinking, ‘He’s guilty’ or ‘He’s not guilty.’ It’s fun figuringout ways to shift and change the audience’s sympathies.” Joseph has indeed figured out how to shift oursympathies in powerful fashion, thanks to the altogether gripping articulationsfrom his cast of four. These articulations spring from the sharpness and depthof Shanley’s writing and its many forays into wily ambiguity. What’s written,however, could never come fully to light and life but for the prowess requiredto speak a language without words. Here in the intimate surrounds of theGuild’s arena space we’re able to clearly see that the cast has mastered thepotency of nuanced physical expression – furrowed brows, eyes frightened ornarrowed, snarling lips, heaving or stiffened shoulders, arched backs. In thistense he-said–she-said game of cat and mouse, queries and allegations arewielded like swords, parried with responses at once eloquent and terse, and allto the point, as it were, of stunning uncertainty. Even the silences thatpunctuate the fast-moving dialogue are voluminous with myriad unspoken questions. Meg Hopp is a relentlessly commanding presenceas Sister Aloysius. She perfectly embodies her character’s wry and rigid world-view,steeped as it is in theself-righteousness and pernicious judgementalism that fuels her stridentrefusal to grant the possibility of Father Flynn’s innocence. She renders acomplex portrait, colored with debilitating pessimism and real exasperationwith what she considers to be the inept pastoral leadership in her community. Shesees Sister Jane as too impressionable, lacking in wisdom and real-worldexperience - a potential ally who needs to be molded. In that role, LanaSugarman is wholly endearing in her obsequious way, exuding a sweetvulnerability and bubbly optimism. At first not believing the report of FatherFlynn’s sinful actions, as the play progresses she struggles mightily to graspthe darker implications of the circumstances emerging around her. Ryan C. Nehlen’s magneticportrayal of Father Flynn makes it easy to understand Sister Jane’s initialincredulity. He’s gentle and confident, erudite, and indisputably charismatic. Andyet from the play’s outset, when he delivers an intriguing sermon that extols thespiritual value of being “stricken by private calamity,” Nehlen’s delivery - alternatelypoker-faced and impassioned - has theuncanny effect of presaging trouble ahead and his more acerbic exchanges withSister Aloysius. A startling surprise ensues when SisterAloysius has a short conference with Mrs. Muller, played by Joy A. Ellis. Forall of that scene’s brevity, Ellis packs it with an authentic and heartrendingemotional intensity – a shift that significantly enlarges the philosophicaldimensions of the story. There’s good reasonto call this play “a parable.” On the surface,its words might suggest an indictment of corrupted Catholic patriarchy andpriestly pedophilia. In the end, though, I think the apparent religious contextis somewhat cosmetic in nature, and arguably better regarded as symbolic of alarger societal malaise. Is it stillreasonable to want our words to describe or report reality in absolute,unarguable terms? In this troubled ageof moral and philosophical relativism, words can be especially convenientweapons, too easily abused, leading to tragic judgements. If nothing else, Doubt presents us with the capacity ofwords to veil as much as they reveal, to incite and justify uncertaintiesrather than declare unassailable truths. Playwright Shanley’s sobering,arresting words are woven together into a gray tapestry of innuendo, ofassumptions acted upon as fact, of accusations without proof. Think of his play as a compelling allegory of thedoubtful practices rampant on so many of our current social media platforms,the “…chatter of our time.” Doubt – A Parable, by John PatrickShanley / Directed by Craig Joseph,at Players Guild William G. Frye Theatre, Cultural Center for the Arts, 1101 Market Ave. N., Canton / THROUGHJANUARY 28, 2018 / shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.TICKETS: $20 adults, $17 seniors, $13 ages 17 and younger.Order at 330-453-7617 and www.playersguildtheatre.com