Church Scandal Makes Searing Drama, by Channing Gray, Providence Journal [Pawtucket RI], March 28, 2007

Church Scandal Makes Searing Drama

By Channing Gray
Providence Journal [Pawtucket RI]
March 28, 2007

http://www.projo.com/theater/content/lb-sinrev_03-28-07_T451D27.21f4617.html

For a play lifted from court documents, Sin: A Cardinal Deposed is a pretty engaging evening of theater.

The show, now at the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, focuses on the testimony of former Cardinal Bernard F. Law about the molestation scandal that rocked the Boston Catholic Church.

The deposition pits Law against fictitious attorney Orson Krieger, played by an unrelenting Scott Winters. Law has not been charged with molestation, but is being deposed on a charge of negligence in handling the sex-abuse scandal that led to his resignation.

Sam Babbitt as Cardinal Bernard F. Law in Sin: A Cardinal Deposed, at The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre
Photo by Peter Goldberg

And during his 90-minute deposition, Law, played by a devious and duplicitous Sam Babbitt, does not come off looking very good.

"I can't remember," becomes his mantra.

One might feel more sympathetic toward Law, then one of the most powerful cardinals in the United States (he's since gone on to a posh job at the Vatican), if it weren't for the fact that his own words are used to damn him.

Playwright Michael Murphy used some 1,000 pages of court testimony, letters from parents and church records to cobble together his script. And while there are stretches of the play that seem dry, as courtroom lingo is apt to be, Murphy has broken up the drone of legalese with poignant letters from mothers who write how they complained about abusive priests but got nowhere.

Rather than have Law read the letters in cool, dispassionate tones, two peripheral characters — Wendy Overly's court stenographer and Chris Byrnes as the court officer — step into the spotlight to read statements from priests, doctors and people of faith who can't comprehend their betrayal.

As Wilma Higgs, we see Overly wracked by guilt for inviting serial rapist Father John Geoghan into her home. He abused her sons.

"I'm the guilty person," she cries.

While the lettersprovide some humanity, what is missing is the actual voice of the victims. Part of that has to do with the fact that Law paid little attention to the aggrieved parties. He instead wrote consoling letters to his priests inquiring of their "illness." Asked how many victims he comforted, Babbitt's Law stares silently.

But there is one victim, Patrick McSorley, who sits quietly on the sidelines for the duration of the play. Played by a dour Steve Kidd, McSorley cries, laughs and fidgets, and then in the final moments tells briefly about being abused at the hands of Geoghan, who ended up being tried, convicted and murdered in his jail cell.

McSorley's speech is one of the more powerful moments in the play. Too bad there aren't more of them.

While Sin lacks some of the human touch provided by McSorley — who, we ultimately learn, died of a drug overdose at age 29 — the play does provide an intriguing look at what the playwright portrays as the ultimate hierarchical outfit, one that will go to any length to protect itself.

Law tries to portray himself as a simple pastor. I'm not a CEO or a politician, he says, when in fact he is very much a corporate figure.

Much of the play has to do with how much Law knew and when he knew it, whether he transferred priests to other parishes knowing they still posed a danger to children, rather than put them into positions where they would have no contact with children. Usually, they were just passed along from church to church without any apparent thought given to the consequences.

In other cases, Law insists that he never saw documents sent to him. They were instead handled by his delegate. He had no first-hand knowledge of them.

In fact, Law is asked early on in the proceedings whether he knew if it were illegal for a priest to have sex with a child. At first, he says that years ago, the question never came up. But his confidence, his ability to defend his position, begins to wane under the unrelenting attack of Winter's Krieger, actually a composite of a couple of lawyers. Yes, says Law, his priests committed terrible crimes, but they also did great good.

Slick Tom Gleadow does the best he can to defend Law as attorney William Varley. But he is unable to stave off the attacks from Krieger.

Kidd's brief speech at the end of the show seems a little contrived, as though Murphy were searching for an ending to a drama that otherwise seems to fade into the distance.

Babbitt stands out in the role of Law, managing to keep his rage and annoyance just under the surface of propriety. We watch him melt from a cocky, self-assured prelate to someone who must face the implications of his actions. Winters is a natural as Krieger, who continues to chip away at Law's façade.

Overly adds a welcome bit of color in her fleeting portrayals of grieving mothers. She's got the accents, the mannerisms, the emotions down cold.

And Jessica Hill's set captures the staid stateliness of the Suffolk County Courthouse, but also suggests ecclesiastical trappings.

Sin: A Cardinal Deposed runs through April 22 at the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket. Tickets are $19 to $31. Call (401) 723-4266, or visit www.arttixri.com.

cgray@projo.com