CHERRY JONES CONVINCES, BEYOND A `DOUBT'.

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 post-show coffee grows cold.

That L.A. audiences also get to see the Tony award-winning half of the Broadway cast (including the mighty Cherry Jones) at the Ahmanson Theatre, the first stop of ``Doubt's'' national tour, is gravy. ``Doubt,'' a kind of ``perfect storm'' dramatically, now has a near-perfect set of players stoking the flames.

(How much hotter the whole thing might have burned had the tour producers booked it into the more intimate Mark Taper Forum! But the play is already a hit, and beaucoup tickets must be sold.)

The story begins

Flynn (played by Chris McGarry) is suspected of taking an improper interest in the first black student at St Nicholas' Church School, in the Bronx. The year is 1964, when the channels for investigating priests weren't perhaps as practiced and well-defined as in more recent times.

Flynn's accuser is St. Nicholas' principal, Sister Aloysius (Jones), a woman who protects her charges with the icy ferocity of a mother dragon. Her evidence against Flynn is sketchy, but her conviction is unwavering. A younger, idealistic teacher, Sister James (Lisa Joyce), is caught uncomfortably between the combatants. We never meet the boy, although we get a very enlightening and highly charged scene between Sister Aloysius and his mother (a very strong Adriane Lenox).

The likable priest

Upping the ante is the charisma factor. Flynn is a progressive-thinking man, a smart and passionate speaker who coaches basketball and is beloved by his students. We watch him in the pulpit giving sermons about the nature of gossip and doubt, and we like him. Sister Aloysius, on the other hand, inspires nothing but terror in her students. Her persecution of Flynn may be born of the threat to the old order she represents. Which shouldn't matter if her suspicions are on target. Or should it?

The two scenes that throw Aloysius and Flynn together in the principal's mean little office (set designer John Lee Beatty also smoothly renders the rectory garden) are as compelling as they are disquieting. McGarry's bullish charm threatens to turn to fury, and caroms off Jones' doggedness. McGarry's glances, careful pauses and use of a notebook further establish this man as a thinker, and a worthy adversary.

Disappears into her role

Hidden behind thick spectacles and a bonnet, and tucking her arms into her habit, Jones adds a good 10 to 15 years and frequently resembles a cross between a scarecrow and a vampire bat. This is not an easy woman to side with, but Jones steers her away from sketch or caricature so deftly that the mannerisms that initially drew laughs eventually lead us into deeper waters.

So tightly structured is the play that the hairline crack appearing in Sister Aloysius' convictions is as dramatically shocking as the confrontations that precede it. As directed by Doug Hughes, ``Doubt'' is a taught and streamlined 90 minutes. Issues and questions -- particularly those without easy answers -- should be half this entertaining.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

DOUBT - Three and one half stars

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through Oct. 29.

Tickets: $20 to $80. [phone].

In a nutshell: Placing ideas over character study -- and succeeding grandly.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Cherry Jones is Sister Aloysius, the determined nun who challenges a priest she suspects of child sexual abuse, with Adriane Lenox as the boy's mother, in the Tony Award-winning ``Doubt,'' through Oct. 29 at the Ahmanson.