Before I begin my review of Doubt, I need to do two things. First, I need everyone to go back and read the welcome post to this blog. Remember, this is in the interest of good theater and is a critique of work, not of people. Second, I need to reveal two more biases. The first is that I am a Catholic. Not just a Catholic, but a liberal Catholic - one who believes in the humanity of the Church, not just the divinity. As a Catholic, I have found the Church to be a place of refuge, hope, faith, and grace. And, I have befriended clergy members. I mean, anyone who is friends with me on Facebook knows that Fr. Brian is not only a spiritual mentor, but a dear friend.
The second is that I love the written work that is John Patrick Shanley's Doubt. In fact, there was a time where I was considering doing it as an independent study with friend and roommate Lizzy Marmon. Why? Because it is a story of humanity. It raises one of the most important questions of Faith that a Christian can face: the question of doubt. But, while it does that, it also humanizes the clergy. Doubt takes a view of the clergy as PEOPLE. It reminds us that every single person we meet is a human being, as flawed and beautiful as you. Doubt pushes three clergy members to the breaking points of emotion with fiery language and deep seeded emotional truth. Unfortunately, as I am about to explain, I feel that this is a point which this production missed.
Company Presentation
Once again, Generic's PR shows itself a bit ahead of the game in the student theater world. While not quite as cool as the audition posters (some of Priya's best work) the posters are still shadowy, and intriguing as they should be.
Getting into the downstage was same old, same old. Which is totally fine and at this point in my GW career, strangely comforting. But, once inside I found I had to sit in a pew. Cool idea, not so well thought out. I mean, it totally added to the general ambiance of the production, but after an hour and a half on a narrow, wooden bench my bum was getting a bit numb (numb bum, heh heh).
The director's opening speech given from the pulpit was a pretty nice touch though, and I settled in hoping for the best.
Set
The set was decent. Just that, decent. It was essentially split into three segments: Sr. Aloysius' office SR, the court yard SL, and the church far SL. While Sr. Aloysius' office was well dressed with all the mundane accoutrement that one would expect in a nun's office, seams between flats showed that some details were simply over looked. The beige color was also a bit unappealing, though I suppose that's what they were going for. The leaves at least were pretty in the courtyard, and the stained glass window was gorgeous (though one audience member did joke asking if the Jesus depicted was a picture of artistic director Henry Morillo).
Lights
A simplistic design was poorly executed here. What should have been an easy lights up, lights down was marred by shadow and holes. At one point - as Fr. Flynn adressed the audience as if they were a bunch of boys playing basketball - the light wasn't even on Fr. Flynn, it was on the front two rows of the audience. I found the lighting bland at best and distracting at worst. I noted in the program that the design was done by Megan Cowher - but I know she is out of town right now. So, purely speculation here, it would be my guess that much of the lighting work fell to master electrician Keaton White. Keaton is a new name to me so, again speculating, I would guess this is some of his first lighting work at GW. If that is the case then all is excusable. The secrets of downstage lighting take some time to figure out. So, if this was Keaton's first lighting work then I would be more than willing to give this production's lighting a pass.
Acting
I had one major problem with the acting in this show: it seemed stifled. What should have been an energetic, powerfully emotional show came off as one note. Many of the characters felt one-sided and none of the moments that I wanted to be big (read: explosive) were. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the lack of dynamics bothered me. But not only that, the pacing was painfully slow. For a full scene it was possible to count 3 second breaks between every line - nearly every sentence. What should have been an hour and 15 minute show ran an hour and 35 minutes. At least Meghan Bernstein had a distinct character as Sr. Aloysius. Unfortunately she seemed to have been stifled and held back. The one character whose pain I could feel only had one scene. Francisca Cromwell did a good job as Mrs. Muller, portraying a woman who had been repeatedly burned by the world and was sadly willing to take it again if she had to.
Directing
I have to begin by saying Lianna Havel is wonderful girl. Her director's note implies that she took away from Doubt the same things I did when I first read it. Unfortunately, the things she stated in her director's note didn't seem to translate to the stage. The blocking seemed restrictive and forced. Several bad actor habits that should have been caught in rehearsal seem to have gone unnoticed [Our Fr. Flynn had a claw hand problem that slightly resembles a closed Zoidberg version of Mike Noel's open Zoidberg hand (Love you Mike... David, I don't know you, I'm sure I'd love you too)]. But what got me the most was the one note approach that seemed to be taken with characterization. The whole thing felt very one note, missing the complexities and excitement of the human experience.
Really, I just wanted so much more from this production. I wanted so badly to be blown away by Shanley's work again. Perhaps that caused me to go in with expectations that were too high. Not one of Generic's best productions, but I still look forward to seeing their next show American Buffalo November 1st through 3rd. Love you all.
See you in the theater,
Ed
PS- I want to take this moment to remind people of something dangerous: the comment section! Don't agree with me? Let me know! The whole point here is to start discussion. Though, keep in mind, any shall we say "inappropriate memes" will be flagged as spam (regardless of how hilarious).
Lights
A simplistic design was poorly executed here. What should have been an easy lights up, lights down was marred by shadow and holes. At one point - as Fr. Flynn adressed the audience as if they were a bunch of boys playing basketball - the light wasn't even on Fr. Flynn, it was on the front two rows of the audience. I found the lighting bland at best and distracting at worst. I noted in the program that the design was done by Megan Cowher - but I know she is out of town right now. So, purely speculation here, it would be my guess that much of the lighting work fell to master electrician Keaton White. Keaton is a new name to me so, again speculating, I would guess this is some of his first lighting work at GW. If that is the case then all is excusable. The secrets of downstage lighting take some time to figure out. So, if this was Keaton's first lighting work then I would be more than willing to give this production's lighting a pass.
Acting
I had one major problem with the acting in this show: it seemed stifled. What should have been an energetic, powerfully emotional show came off as one note. Many of the characters felt one-sided and none of the moments that I wanted to be big (read: explosive) were. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the lack of dynamics bothered me. But not only that, the pacing was painfully slow. For a full scene it was possible to count 3 second breaks between every line - nearly every sentence. What should have been an hour and 15 minute show ran an hour and 35 minutes. At least Meghan Bernstein had a distinct character as Sr. Aloysius. Unfortunately she seemed to have been stifled and held back. The one character whose pain I could feel only had one scene. Francisca Cromwell did a good job as Mrs. Muller, portraying a woman who had been repeatedly burned by the world and was sadly willing to take it again if she had to.
Directing
I have to begin by saying Lianna Havel is wonderful girl. Her director's note implies that she took away from Doubt the same things I did when I first read it. Unfortunately, the things she stated in her director's note didn't seem to translate to the stage. The blocking seemed restrictive and forced. Several bad actor habits that should have been caught in rehearsal seem to have gone unnoticed [Our Fr. Flynn had a claw hand problem that slightly resembles a closed Zoidberg version of Mike Noel's open Zoidberg hand (Love you Mike... David, I don't know you, I'm sure I'd love you too)]. But what got me the most was the one note approach that seemed to be taken with characterization. The whole thing felt very one note, missing the complexities and excitement of the human experience.
Really, I just wanted so much more from this production. I wanted so badly to be blown away by Shanley's work again. Perhaps that caused me to go in with expectations that were too high. Not one of Generic's best productions, but I still look forward to seeing their next show American Buffalo November 1st through 3rd. Love you all.
See you in the theater,
Ed
PS- I want to take this moment to remind people of something dangerous: the comment section! Don't agree with me? Let me know! The whole point here is to start discussion. Though, keep in mind, any shall we say "inappropriate memes" will be flagged as spam (regardless of how hilarious).
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