Article: CHERRY JONES CONVINCES, BEYOND A `DOUBT'.(U)

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

Did he or didn't he? Is she a true crusader or a wolf-crying zealot? How certain can we, as witnesses, be of anything we hear?

Playwright John Patrick Shanley deliberately leaves these important questions unanswered. Only the actor asked to play Father Flynn in Shanley's play ``Doubt'' knows with any certainty the degree of the priest's guilt. The rest of us never find out. The rest of the cast never finds out.

And that's as it should be. This way, ``Doubt'' can remain a crackling smart play about ideas, not a character study, and audiences can debate the ``did he or didn't he'' ramifications until our ...

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