Doubt, Final Weeks. *Spoilers*

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:24pm

This Pulitzer and Tony Award play is a masterpiece. It will make you have "doubts", hehe. Excellent acting by Eileen Atkins, Ron Eldard and Adriane Lenox. Excellence can be found in a play. It is a must-see if you haven't seen this play before or if you missed this new cast. Really great. I don't know if there is a previous thread about this. But do you all think he was innocent or guilty?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:26pm

OH, so guilty!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:27pm

I think he was innocent, no proof of him doing anything really. I just saw Ron playing this role, but he really made me think he is a concerned man who just wanted to help, not a pervert.

[Jenny1284]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:00pm

I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago, and I loved it. I assumed that I would leave thinking he was guilty, but I changed my mind fairly early in the play. I got the impression that he (and Sister James for that matter) just had a different idea of how they should offer guidance to the students. Sister Aloysius struck me as a bit paranoid and unwilling to consider their differing philosophies about education. Although, if I remember correctly, I think she told Sister James and the boy's mother that they chose to believe Father Flynn was innocent because that was easier and made them feel better. I think those statements made me doubt his innocence more than anything we actually saw him do or say. So, I'm leaning toward innocent, but I have my doubts of course.

[teebz]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:04pm

I saw Brian in this role and I definitley think he was guilty.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:11pm

I haven't had the opportunity to see the play, living in Chicago, so I will definitely see the tour which I think will be coming here next year.

I have read the play though, and loved it. Obviously, it was written so that it would be ambiguous, and since, you know, it's a PLAY, no one was actually molested, lol. I think that if performed right, you wouldn't know the answer. Reading reviews of the new cast, it seemed that most critics agreed that Ron Eldard was too "guilty," thus eliminating much, um, doubt.

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:12pm

I keep flipping back and forth. But one thought I had is that he may have been guilty in the past and is really a caring person who was just trying to help. I think that at the point in time "Doubt" takes place, he is trying not to do "those things". But I think he is finding difficult. I also thought about the year it is set in and how it has taken some people so long to come forth about being molested by priests. So he may have been released from a former position and things were just kept hush hush.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:17pm

I wasn't too impressed with the show. And it was more than just the casting. Eileen and Adrienne were both great. I wasn't excessibely impressed with Ron, he seemed a little flat, but it could have been an off night, and well, Jena, um, she's just not great on stage. I love her on film, but between her floating accent and lack of projection (i was in the second row and sometimes had trouble) it wasn't a great performance. The writing also left me a bit underwhelmed. It didn't live up to all the talk.



as for the guilt/innocence. He was clearly guilty of something, but I don't believe he was guilty of what the nuns thought him guilty of.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:20pm

I thought it was amazing. Jena was great, maybe was the weakest performer, but next to those 3 actors, it is not a bad thing. Zone what show/play did you actually like?

Updated On: 6/24/06 at 04:20 PM

[TomMonster]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:25pm

I saw the show twice, once Off-Broadway, and once On. Same cast, but each time I walked away with a different take. According to interviews with the cast and playwright only Brian and the playwright actually knew the answer as to his guilt. Cherry and Brian would tug at each others performance to try and sway the audience one way or the other. Truly remarkable work on everyones part! It will be missed here in NYC. Maybe a film? If so, who would star...?

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:39pm

When I read the play, I would swear on my life he was innocent.

When I saw the play, I was happy I didn't swear on anything, because I'd be dead.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:41pm

I also, like Zone, was totally underwhemled by the whole thing. It didn't do everything it could have with such great material. It made me even more upset that Billy Cruddup and The Pillowman didn't win. :P

But I as well, thought he was guilty, if not of molestation, than of losing faith in the church, or misusing it.

[Jenny1284]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 4:53pm

As much as I enjoyed Doubt, I preferred The Pillowman. I keep forgetting that it lost.

I almost wish I could see Doubt again, though, since I seem to be one of a few who thought the character might be innocent. I'm starting to feel kind of crazy.

[mabel]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 5:16pm

I also preferred The Pillowman to Doubt (always have to chime in when this topic comes up!). I only saw Doubt once, and while I was on the fence, I kind of thought Flynn was innocent as well, Jenny. Now I'm kind of wishing I'd gone back to see it again with the replacement cast to see how I felt about it all with their take on the roles...oh well.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 5:23pm

I thought Brian was guilty and Ron was innocent...

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 5:29pm

"Zone what show/play did you actually like?"


well of the 10 shows i saw during hte week before and week after the tonys i liked, Awake & Sing (definately the best show i saw of the 10), Stuff Happens, History Boys, those 3 (of 5 I saw) plays i loved. Inishmore was enjoyable, but definately I didn't love it as much as most people I've spoken to or seen respond to it, and Doubt was the 5th and i wasn't, impressed. Of the musicals, I loved Sweeney (although i had already seen it but early in previes so it was quite diferent), Avenue Q was quite fun and enjoyable, but didn't deserve Best Musical, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was funny but a little flat (and Norbie for some reason had trouble not breaking character as he did so on several occasions), The Wedding Singer was tedious and dreary, but had several good performances and a couple of fun numbers, and well, Threepenny was an absolute mess.


so of the 10 i saw, i liked Awake & Sing, History Boys, Stuff Happens, Avenue Q, Sweeney, and DRS.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 5:35pm

I also preferred The Pillowman over Doubt.

[theonlyone]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 5:57pm

Didn't Shanley tell the actors who played the Father whether or not Father was innocent or guilty?

[Madhatter]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 6:03pm

I saw it back in March and thought that at another school he did something bad that got him fired or transfered but durring the play I don't think he did anything.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 6:06pm

theonlyone -- I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant the Playwright being Shanley did tell the Father being Brian, whether or not he was guilty. Brian did tell Cherry the truth after they left the run. We will never know...

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 9:16pm

I wonder if her knowledge of the truth will affect her touring performance this year through next?

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 9:52pm

Bump to get rid of the porn spam on page 1.

[ocean]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 10:26pm

"I wonder if her knowledge of the truth will affect her touring performance this year through next?"

If you read the end of this interview they didn't tell her because of the upcoming tour

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/8044

Updated On: 6/24/06 at 10:26 PM

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 10:31pm

Oh, good...I *really* hope I can meet her in April when it comes to town..she seems like such an interesting person to speak with.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 10:31pm

Sorry, meant to say Brian was "going" to tell her after her run finishes. Got my syntax wrong!