‘Doubt’ handled with conviction at SCR

The starchy, unflattering habit worn by Sister Aloysius in “Doubt” comes in only two colors: black and white. But the dominant hue in John Patrick Shanley’s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is gray -- multiple shades of it.

A smash hit in New York when it opened in 2004, “Doubt” takes place on a metaphysical battlefield where there is no right or wrong, just degrees of moral relativity. South Coast Repertory’s smart and stirring revival inhabits the play’s ethical gray zones with conviction and a wry sense of humor. Even though it comes just a year after the national tour starring Cherry Jones played at the Ahmanson, this production manages to feel vital and necessary.

“Doubt” is such a spare play that you could almost describe it as monastic. Set entirely within the walls of a Catholic school in 1964, the story pits two adversaries in a war of righteousness. Sister Aloysius (Linda Gehringer), the school’s authoritarian principal, runs a humorless office and shows no tolerance for life’s pleasantries. Lately, she has been keeping her eye on Father Flynn (James Joseph O’Neil), a high-spirited priest who coaches basketball and whom she suspects of carrying on an improper relationship with an altar boy, who happens to be the school’s only African American student.

Although she has no concrete evidence, Sister Aloysius nevertheless confronts the priest, justifying her accusation by saying, “I have my certainty.” Her sense of morality is apparently as monochromatic as her outfit. Father Flynn denies the charges, but he’s curiously unable, or perhaps unwilling, to prove his innocence. Caught in the moral crossfire is Sister James (Rebecca Mozo), a young, naive history teacher who initially sides with Sister Aloysius but then starts having her own doubts about the accusations.

“Doubt” unfolds like a thriller but retains the intellectual rigor of a rhetorical debate, the kind you might hear argued in sophistry societies. The result is accessible but never simplistic. Shanley’s dialogue conveys complicated ideas without necessarily articulating them, often embedding meaning in between the words. It’s also remarkable how he deploys the play’s title to disparate effects. “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty,” says Sister Aloysius. Later, she tells Sister James, “I wouldn’t mind being wrong. But I doubt that I am.”

It would be difficult for any actress playing Sister Aloysius to emerge from Cherry Jones’ formidable shadow, and Gehringer doesn’t quite dispel memories of that now legendary performance. But she succeeds at creating a character of tremendous complexity who is not a villain even though she commits villainous deeds. Gehringer’s best scene is when she meets with the boy’s mother (Kimberly Scott), an unexpectedly crafty woman who turns out to be Sister Aloysius’ most formidable adversary in several crucial ways. Watching Gehringer register various states of disbelief is a memorable and devastating experience.

Father Flynn, who was played by Brian F. O’Byrne on Broadway, is an equally tricky character to portray, though he gets less stage time and remains necessarily opaque. O’Neil’s performance emphasizes the character’s jolly side, putting perhaps a little too much Friar Tuck into his Father Flynn. It’s difficult imagining his priest doing anything wrong, and that becomes problematic when the play calls on him to act with possibly sinister motives in the final scenes.

The production is directed with cool efficiency by SCR artistic director Martin Benson who brings out the spiritual dimensions in Shanley’s dialogue as well as a lot of the unexpected humor. “Nuns fall, you know,” says Sister Aloysius in a moment of sardonic exasperation. Creating a seamless interaction between drama and comedy isn’t easy, but Benson’s concise direction makes it feel so.

In the few years since it debuted in New York, “Doubt” has achieved a near-mythic status and has even attracted big-name industry talent. Roman Polanski directed a French-language production last year in Paris. Later this year, Shanley will direct Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a film adaptation scheduled to be released by Miramax in 2008.

But the essential nature of Shanley’s play is a simple one that is best served up minus the hype. The play’s full title is “Doubt, a Parable,” and it is exactly that -- a short story designed to teach the audience a virtue. Except the lesson of this story is almost an anti-lesson, one intended to muddy the moral waters, not clarify them. “Doubt” concludes on a note of uncertainty and somehow manages to make that ambiguity feel completely satisfying.

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david.ng@latimes.com

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‘Doubt’

Where: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: 8 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays; 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays; 2:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.

Ends: Nov. 18.

Price: $28 to $62

Contact: (714) 708-5555 or www.scr.org.