Scholastic mystery

Doubt: A Parable is a small intriguing play set in a New York Catholic school. When a 12-year-old boy is caught getting smashed on altar wine, the fanatical head teacher, Sister Aloysius, starts to investigate. She’s convinced that the lad has been corrupted by a charismatic and handsome young priest Fr Flynn. Outraged, Fr Flynn claims that his closeness to the boy is innocent and that her groundless accusations have torn their friendship to pieces. This is a highly unusual play. Tedious and slow to start with, it consists of nothing but seated characters talking to each other. Yet it’s peculiarly gripping because after the dull opening scenes you realise you’re watching something alive, something growing, a narrative which rises and spreads like a twisting weed and gradually ensnares Fr Flynn. The characters are deliberately opaque and their illegibility is set out with great clarity. Is Sister Aloysius a vindictive witch or a heroic redeemer? Is Fr Flynn a naïve philanthropist or a psalm-singing cassock-lifter? We don’t know. In the end, who is more guilty? The completeness of our uncertainty is peculiarly satisfying. If you’re one of those people who likes to hammer out the play afterwards in a restaurant, you will find this an ideal evening. The show is crammed with knotty issues and at just 80 minutes it leaves you plenty of time for a lingering Socratic chitchat over your noodles.

Michael Pennington’s evening of Shakespearean excerpts, Sweet William, is well worth a look. When Shakespeare is done in full it’s inevitable that some of the beautiful details vanish in the general sweep of the verse. Pennington focuses on selected speeches and instead of parading about in the crown, as it were, he extracts small and spectacular stones for our inspection.