I'd say go for it. We did it a couple of years ago and had good response in a religiously conservative community.  I can't remember how long it ran but that was not an issue.  The local priest came to see the show as did other religious leaders and we had an article in the religion section of the paper.  It's not  as controversial as you might think. There are no language issues and it's not really anti-Catholic when you get down to it. 

Doubt runs about 90 minutes. 

A good rule of thumb to remember with play scripts is that one page usually equals about two minutes.  (This does not apply to musicals)

As for "acceptance" of the play, if you do it right it will satisfy everyone - and by "right" I mean leaving the audience with a strong doubt in their own minds as to whether or not the priest was guilty.  That is the key to getting the show right.  The actress playing the nun has to play the role as though she is certain that the priest is guilty.  The tricky part is that the actor playing the priest has to take it on firmly convinced that his character is absolutely innocent, and play it that way to the hilt.  Then your production will be unbeatable.


Edited by edh915 - 11/04/10 at 10:27am

I just played it as though the priest was "aware" of something going on at his last post (because it was common for the priests to hear each others' confessions), that he probably ran into another priest who was guilty, and that he most likely took care of it, and stopped it, by going through normal channels; but he was not able to discuss such things with the nun, and was therefore made to "seem" guilty, but not "be" guilty.