Doubt: A Parable review – Sam Reid and Pamela Rabe go head-to-head in electrifying drama

By Cassie Tongue · The Guardian Culture

Sydney Theatre Company Reid elicits gasps as a charming priest suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with a child – but this production rarely lets us linger in discomfort In a turbulent time for live performing arts in Australia, with cancelled musical tours , shrinking orchestras and rising production costs as audiences spend more carefully, Sydney Theatre Company is one of the few that has managed to post a surplus. Through a mixture of funding and investments, careful programming and a few hits – including The Talented Mr Ripley and this year’s An Iliad starring David Wenham – the company is a steady port in the current theatrical storm, and nowhere is that steadiness more clear than this new, straightforward production of Doubt: A Parable. Written by John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck), Doubt takes place entirely on the grounds of a small Catholic school in New York’s the Bronx in 1964, where sharp-edged principal Sister Aloysius (Pamela Rabe) maintains strict standards for students and teachers. When the wide-eyed Sister James (Shannen Alyce Quan) raises a concern about Father Flynn (Sam Reid) meeting privately with a young boy from her class, Sister Aloysius – already suspicious of the more modern and folksy priest – is immediately resigned to the worst possible outcome. Father Flynn, however, insists he is innocent. Continue reading...