Friday, March 18, 2011

Doubt

I'm way too close to this one to comment objectively, but I'll do me best.

'Doubt' by John Patrick Stanley is just a cracking piece of writing whatever way you look at it.
I know there's a pretty good fillum of it, and I've seen it, but I think that it works way better on the stage. The close-ups tell you too much: the necessary distance helps the plays ambiguity and makes it easier for the audience to experience doubt* (*about who is the decent person and who is the monster).

The current Centrespace production is far from slick, but it is imaginatively staged and immensely enjoyable. The show is presented in an almost eccentric version of 'in the round' which reinforces the idea that we simply never get 'the full picture' and, like the play's protagonist(s), we must makeup our minds without anything as satisfying as either evidence or personal certainty.

It's a tragedy that it's only on for two nights.

'Doubt' by John Patrick Stanley, directed by Richie Ryan and presented by the Centrespace players featuring: Jacinta Hastings, Mark P O'Connor, Joanne Ryan and Kate Njoku.

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