“Storytelling is the way we realise we are not alone”
Lia Williams likes the 2008 film of Doubt which starred Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.
But she prefers the original play – the version she is directing at Chichester Festival Theatre from January 22-February 5, a production which should have happened this time last year.
“We had got our preparations into top gear and had to suddenly stop, like so many productions. But I am quietly hopeful now that we can do this. I think we have learned so much since then and I think we have changed as people since then. I think people want to be safe and I know that Chichester is a theatre where it is possible to have the space to be safe. And actually this is a play that is socially distanced on stage. The characters don’t get too close to each other.
“I am determined to keep a positive attitude towards what we are doing. We have got to try to keep theatre alive and active and kicking as much as possible otherwise we do run the risk of it being blotted out for several years. I know it takes a lot of energy to be positive but it is what we have got to do.
“People have really missed the theatre. The few pieces of theatre that I’ve seen post lockdowns, you just sense the feeling of gratitude and the sense of relief in the building. I do think human beings need to have storytelling in their lives. It’s innate in us. It has been there since the beginning of time and I do think storytelling is the way that we understand who we are. Storytelling is also the way that we realise that we are not alone.
“And I do think I have a greater appreciation now – not specifically of theatre but really of human beings and how we need each other. Generally speaking, people need people and we don’t function too well in isolation. One of the things has been watching endless things on Netflix but there is something so much stronger about being in a theatre together and having a shared experience and I think our appreciation of that has gone up a great deal. And I do think this play speaks to us now.”
Set in 1960s New York, Doubt is the gripping portrayal of the clash between two compelling characters.
School principal Sister Aloysius Beauvier is wedded to tradition and unafraid to fight for her beliefs while the basketball-playing priest and teacher Father Brendan Flynn is liberal-minded and charismatic.
As mutual suspicion mounts, their actions become an epic battle of wills from which no one will emerge unscathed; but where does the truth lie?
“I think the play is quite prescient. It is a wonderful piece of writing that has been brilliantly devised by John Patrick Shanley. Every word, every punctuation is orchestrated brilliantly and with great economy.
“And it is so interesting what it is about. My feeling is that we have been so influenced by social media to the extent that we seem to think in extremes all the time now. If you have a liberal idea then you are what the extremists might call wishy washy because you are not allowed to be not entirely sure about issues in politics now or just as humans. You are either for something or you’re against it and when you are for something you are ferociously for it and when you’re against something you are ferociously against something. You are not allowed to be in the middle. If you are in that grey area then it is seen as weakness. That’s what this play is about.
“It is good to procrastinate. And what kind of certainty do we have anyway? There just is no certainty. The only certainty is that at some point we will die one day.
“Really it is just much better to embrace the uncertain and to see our doubt and our uncertainty as our great strengths rather than our weaknesses.”
Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley runs from January 22-February 5.