DOUBT.

First (2004) there was the off Broadway play. Then (2005) came Broadway, the Pulitzer Prize and the published script of DOUBT: A PARABLE by prolific dramatist John Patrick Shanley. 2008 brought the feature film DOUBT, starring Meryl Streep and garnering four Academy Award nominations. ***** I am reviewing the book. There are nine brief but packed scenes. You can read the script aloud in less than an hour. There are only four characters: one priest, two nuns and the mother of a Catholic grade school's first and only black student. The time is 1964. The place is New York City's Bronx. And the theme is clergy abuse of the young and the extent to which it is doubtful that that priest in that year and in that school was sexually seducing a 12-year old black student. The young nun, the boy's teacher, has smelled alcohol on the boy's breath after a one-on-one session with the priest. Her report to the principal gives the older nun, the school's Sister of Mercy principal, an opening that she pounces on to use means fair and foul to gather proof that the priest is guilty. ***** In a touching, convincing scene with the boy's mother, the principal is shocked to hear that the boy's father beats him because he thinks his son a homosexual. The black mother is grateful to the white priest for being kind to her son and protecting him from bullies. If there is abuse (not conceded), it will end in June when the boy graduates and goes to an upwardly mobile high school. The principal is told that men run the church, just as they rule the world. Live with it, Sister! ***** Although the characters seem a bit extreme in their respective "types," the themes are important. The dialog is brisk and spot on. This play was rightly called a marvel. -OOO-