Set on September 12, 2001, THE MERCY SEAT continues Neil La Bute's unflinching fascination with the often-brutal realities of the war between the sexes.
In a time of national tragedy, the world changes overnight.
A man and a woman explore the choices now available to them in an existence different from the one they had lived just the day before.
Can one be opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness? There is no playwright on the planet these days who is writing better than Neil La Bute .
THE MERCY SEAT is .
the work of a master.
--John Lahr, The New Yorker An intelligent and thought-provoking drama that casts a less-than-glowing light on man's dark side in the face of disaster .
The play's energy lies in La Bute's trademark scathing dialogue.
--Robert Dominguez, Daily News Though set in the cold, gray light of morning in a downtown loft with inescapable views of the vacuum left by the twin towers, THE MERCY SEAT really occurs in one of those feverish nights of the soul in which men and women lock in vicious sexual combat, as in Strindberg's DANCE OF DEATH and Edward Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? --Ben Brantley, The New York Times A] powerful drama .
La Bute shows a true master's hand in gliding us amid the shoals and reefs of a mined relationship.
--Donald Lyons, New York Post Uncomfortable yet fascinating .
THE MERCY SEAT makes for provocative theater -- sharp, compelling and more than a little chilling.
--Michael Kuchwara, Newsday La Bute's intriguing new play] is most compelling when it is daring to look into a] character's heart to explore the way self-interest, given the opportunity, can swamp all our nobler instincts.
--Charles Isherwood, Variety In THE MERCY SEAT .
La Bute has given us his most compelling portrait of male inner turmoil.
--Brendan Lemon, Financial Times La Bute is] the dark shining star of stage and film morality.
--Linda Winer, Newsday Sharply funny and incisive SEAT is not a response to September 11, b.
Broadway Play Publishing The mercy seat, paperback/neil labute
