The Mercy Seat

The Mercy Seat (2002) is a play by Neil LaBute. It has been translated into the Norwegian by Michael H. Sciarrone, using the English-language title.

In English, "mercy seat" is the most common translation of the Bible's "kapporeth", part of a holy altar or ark.

The following description of the plot is from Oslo International Theatre. The company performed the play as a staged reading in 2011:

"The Mercy Seat is a story about two persons who in the middle of the chaos post September 11 no longer know how to live their lives. In the confusion after the disaster they have troubles realising the unfathomable that has happened, and who try to relate to impossible moral dilemmas, drawn between consideration for others and opportunism.

September 11 2001, Ben Harcourt is in the flat of his mistress Amy Prescott. He should have been at work, in World Trade Center. But there is no longer a World Trade Center, and Ben can be pretty sure his family thinks him dead. As night falls Ben and Amy examine the difficult choices they face, choices of moral as well as emotional character."

SOURCES:

E-mail from Oslo International Theatre, 30.08.2012

Oslo International Theatre, oslointernasjonaleteater.com, 14.09.2012, http://oslointernasjonaleteater.com/2011/07/11/the-mercy-seat-av-neil-labute/