Greg Kolack’s production of John Patrick Shanley’s Pultizer Prize-winning play offers little more than a staged reading—but what a text! Simultaneously a “did he or didn’t he” thriller set in a Catholic school in the 1960s and a thoughtful meditation on the nature of conscience and moral ambiguity, “Doubt” is the kind of playscript you immediately want to own and reread, so it’s hard to really resent this production’s run-of-the-mill acting, with the exception of a few inspired moments by C. Sean Piereman as Father Flynn, the charismatic priest under question for possibly seducing an adolescent student. The set feels cramped and sometimes claustrophobic but does capture the historical moment and provides a backdrop for the text, which is what this production is all about. “The truth makes for a bad sermon,” Father Flynn says at one point, but the truthfulness of the language is what might save this production. (Monica Westin)
At the Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr, (773)728-7529. This production is now closed.
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