John Patrick Shanley’s play first appeared in 2004, the era of known unknowns. His parable about a priest suspected of abuse was, he has said, partly prompted by the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: war justified by unproven conviction. He depicts a 1960s Bronx school where Sister Aloysius (Maxine Peake), implacable school principal, insists that Father Flynn (Ben Daniels) has behaved inappropriately towards Donald, the school’s sole Black student – yet she lacks evidence.
Peake maintains a beady eye and ramrod straight spine. Her deep, rustbucket voice of judgment is cut with a squeal of contempt. Daniels leans into his twinkle. His sermons sound like a hand extended to the congregation; his vestment gleams a verdant green. Her starch meets his charisma; dogged belief confronts impassioned rebuttal.
Shanley sets his play precisely in 1964 – pop culture and protest will soon ignite the US, yet the school appears impervious to change. On Peter McKintosh’s inhospitable set, its walls a grim charcoal, only a leafless branch and bare swathe of earth hint at autumn.
