The Mercy Seat Book

Playwright and director neil labute is well-known for his harsh dialogue and devastatingly honest characters. the mercy seat, labute's post-9/11 stage drama, features both. set in new york city the day following the september 11th attacks, the play centers not upon the tragedy's aftermath, but, instead, upon two city residents and their own self-imposed domestic troubles.

with the scope and repercussions of the horrific attacks not yet fully known, ben and abby find the nature of their adulterous relationship coming to a head. ben, husband and father, considers using the tragedy for his own selfish end: abandoning his wife and children (whom will, of course, believe he perished when the towers came crashing down) in favor of running off with abby, his boss and lover. despite the candor and cruelty with which the play's only two characters address each other, there are a few brief moments of humor. labute's dialogue is both frenzied and believable, and the characters quite convincing. the mercy seat is an engaging work, and while it has been nearly a decade since that fateful tuesday morning, the play's themes of self-absorption still ring relevant.

from the preface:

in the mercy seat i am trying to examine the "ground zero" of our lives, that gaping hole in ourselves that we try to cover up with clothes from the gap, with cologne from ralph lauren, with handbags from kate spade. why are we willing to run a hundred miles around simply saying to someone, "i don't know if i love you anymore"? why? because nikes are cheap, running is easy, and honesty is the hardest, coldest currency on the planet…

now i have written a play about two new yorkers who face down one another and their own selves on a long, dark morning of the soul. i hold the mirror up higher and try to examine how selfishness can still exist during a moment of national selflessness.