Doubt: A Parable

Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play, John Patrick Shanleys celebrated work later became an Oscar-nominated film.

St Nicholas Roman Catholic Church and School, the Bronx, New York, 1964.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier. School principal. Driven by fierce conviction and moral certainty. Unafraid of confrontation.

Sister James. Inspired by the joy of teaching; devoted to her pupils. Impulsive, chaste and impressionable. Eager to believe the best of everyone.

Father Brendan Flynn. Charismatic preacher and teacher; intent on bringing the Church closer to the community. Working class, basketball player, wears his fingernails long.

Mrs Muller. Mother of Douglas, 12-year-old pupil and altar boy.

Suspicion. Certainty. Judgement. And Doubt.

Monica Dolan makes her Chichester debut as Sister Aloysius. Her BAFTA and Olivier Award-winning stage and screen work includes TVs W1A, Appropriate Adult, A Very English Scandal and Alan Bennetts Talking Heads; recent theatre includes Talking Heads (Bridge Theatre), Appropriate (Donmar Warehouse), All About Eve (West End) and her own play The B*easts.

Sam Spruell also appears at Chichester for the first time as Father Flynn. He has starred in many films and TV series, most recently The North Water, Small Axe: Mangrove, Liar and Cold Blood. His theatre roles include Iago in Othello (Shakespeares Globe), Clybourne Park (Royal Court) and The Life of Galileo and The Alchemist (National Theatre).

Director Lia Williams was BAFTA-nominated for her short film The Stronger which won Best Short Film at Raindance; other directing credits include Ashes to Ashes as part of the Harold Pinter Season in the West End. A multi award-winning actor, her recent roles include Wallis Simpson in The Crown, The Capture, May 33rd, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Donmar Warehouse), The Oresteia and Mary Stuart (Almeida & West End).