If all literature reveals some truth to its audience, the truth of The Mercy Seat isn't the grand, sweeping illumination of the world. It is instead the truth about the choices we make in our interactions with other people and how we live with those choices. Set inside his mistress Abby's apartment after 9/11, Ben Harcourt views the tragedy as an opportunity.
Ben's choices are not to be envied. Do right by your family or do right by someone you've been taking advantage of for so long you've convinced yourself that you haven't. This play is very much about doing the right thing, and what's more, choosing to do the right thing even if it's the hardest thing you've ever had to do.
After just about devouring this play on the ferry back to Staten Island, I found myself looking at some of the choices I've made. I used to run from my problems alot. I ran as far as Florida for two years to escape from myself. One question kept popping into my head, would you do it again?
About Me
- Jaime
- I'm a 21 year old college student at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. I work at the Staten Island Zoo and I love New York City.
2 comments:
Jaime:
Some good thoughts...let me ask yourself--is this play about 9/11 at all? We speak about 9/11 as a national tragedy but is this play just using the day in order to talk about everyday problems (feeling of lostness)?
I think that the day is the crux of the play. If it were merely talking about everyday feelings of lostness it would've been set in a coffee shop far removed from the disaster, at least that's how I feel. I think LaBute used 9/11 because he needed something as large as the feelings of inadequacy he's talking about. This isn't every day depression, this is thinking that everything you've ever done has been wrong.
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