Verwandte Artikel zu Mercy Seat, The: A Play

Mercy Seat, The: A Play - Softcover

LABUTE, NEIL

 
9780571211388: Mercy Seat, The: A Play
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0571211380 ISBN 13: 9780571211388
Verlag: FSG Adult, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute presents the brutal realities of the war between the sexes, and explores whether one can be truly opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Kia Cothron is an American playwright, activist, and television writer who has written a number of plays for theatre including Splash Hatch on the E Going Down (Center Stage, Yale Repository Theatre, New York Stage and Film, USA, Donmar Warehouse); Digging Eleven (Hartford Stage Company, USA); Seeking the Genesis(Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Manhattan Theater Club, New York); Life by Asphyxiation (Playwright's Horizons, USA); Wake Up Lou Rise(Delaware Theatre Company); Come Down Burning (Long Wharf Theatre, American Place Theatre, USA). She has won many awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts residency with Manhattan Theatre Club, the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays for Seeking the Genesis, Young Playwrights Inc's Joe A. Callaway Playwriting award for Come Down Burning, Delaware Theatre Company's First Connections Contest for Wake Up Lou Riser, New Professional Theater Playwriting Award for Cage Rhythm, a Van Lier Fellowship and a New Dramatists membership.

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The Mercy Seat

A PlayBy Neil LaBute

Faber & Faber

Copyright © 2003 Neil LaBute
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780571211388
The Mercy Seat
Silence. Darkness.
 
A spacious loft apartment, well appointed. Doors leading off in several directions, suggesting a hallway to bedrooms and a bathroom or two. A stainless-steel kitchen, visible. Three large arched windows display a view of other buildings across the street. A kind of amber haze in the air.
 
This is a large sitting room with lovely couches and chairs. Bookshelves heaped high. Framed pictures. A television plays quietly in one corner. A layer of white dust on everything. Absolutely everything.
 
BEN, maybe thirty-three, sits pressed into the corner of one loveseat, staring straight ahead. A cell phone rests in one hand. It rings and rings.
 
After a long moment, the front door opens and a woman of about forty-five enters, also covered in dust and carrying several plastic bags. This isABBY. She sees BEN as she removes an Hermès scarf from around her mouth, but she says nothing, continuing on to the kitchen. She takes off her coat and hat, then begins putting groceries away. When she can't stand it any longer, she walks over and takes the phone out of his hand and pushes a button. The ringing stops and she returns the phone to BEN . White clouds of dust follow her every move.
 
ABBY Save it.
BEN Hmm?
ABBY The phone. I turned it off to save it.
BEN That's okay.
ABBY I know it's okay, I know that. That's why I did it, because it's okay.
BEN Right. / Sure.
ABBY If you're not going to use it, then you should keep it off. / Save the battery.
BEN Uh-huh.
ABBY Plus the sound ... drives me crazy. You know?
BEN Sorry ... I didn't hear it.
ABBY Oh. (She laughs.) Okay ... (She stands overBEN until he finally looks up. Doesn't say anything else. She shakes her head and moves back to the kitchen.) So ... did you call?
BEN Huh?
ABBY "Call." I asked if you called.
BEN Ummm ...
ABBY Of course you didn't. I know you didn't.
BEN No, I didn't.
ABBY I knew it.
BEN Didn't answer it, either ...
ABBY And are you planning to?
BEN I'm ... I was, ahh ... I was going to, maybe ...
ABBY Yeah, that's pretty much where I left you. At the "babbling-to-myself" stage.
BEN I keep trying to.
ABBY Really?
BEN Yeah, but ... but I'm ...
ABBY Huh. (She walks over again, billowing little clouds of whitebehind her. She takes back the phone for a moment, turns it on. Waits. Checks something as it begins ringing almost immediately.) The last number you called was the Chinese place. Yesterday morning, for your shirts. / called, actually ... remember?
BEN Yes. / I do.
ABBY Good. / Just so we're on the same page here ... (Looking at the display.) It's for you. (She sighs and turns the phone off in mid-ring. Hands it back.)
BEN What I meant was ... in my head, I was trying to ... Several times. But I ...
ABBY You couldn't. Right? / Just couldn't do it ...
BEN No. I guess not. / No.
ABBY So, you want to, then? You haven't, but you want to ...
BEN I dunno. I guess so ... shouldn't I?
ABBY Oh, I can't help you with this one. Uh-uh ... This one's all up to you.
BEN I know, I know ... I just ...
ABBY You should, of course. Call.
BEN Yes.
ABBY I mean, it's the decent thing to do.
BEN That's true ...
ABBY It's the only thing to do, really ...
BEN Uh-huh.
ABBY You know that, right?
BEN Yeah. (Beat.) Yeah, I do ... Yes.
ABBY Yeah. (Beat.) Funny thing is, you were going to, anyway. I mean, for a different reason, obviously, but that's what you said.
BEN I did. / I did say that ...
ABBY That's what you told me. / You said, "I'm going to call her. I am. Right now." You were sitting on that couch, the same spot, really, and I was kneeling between your legs when you told me that. Five minutes before it happened. Like, a minute before all this ... happened. (Beat.) Of course, we've heard about that one a few times now, haven't we? The BIG CALL.
BEN Yes.
ABBY Yeah, just a couple. / "I'm going to do it, I promise. This time I mean it." (Beat.) I even threw in a little incentive, didn't I? / Down there on my hands and knees ...
BEN I'm aware of that. / Yes. / I did say it, I know ... and I should. Call.
ABBY But that doesn't really mean shit. Does it?
BEN I guess not.
ABBY That's what I like about you, Ben. Your absolutely rigid commitment to being a flake.
BEN Thanks.
ABBY You're welcome.
BEN A lot.
ABBY You're welcome a lot. (Beat.) You want a snack? It's cheese.
BEN No thanks, but ... no.
ABBY I'm gonna have some. I'm going to have some cheese.
BEN That's all right.
ABBY I know it is! I know it's all right, and that's why I'm going to have some. I'm going to fix myself a plate of this niceHavarti that I bought for you and a few crackers, and then I'm ... I'm going to ...
BEN Go ahead.
ABBY Oh, I will, I will ... I'm ... I think I'll just ... I'll ... (She doesn't finish the sentence but just nods to herself. She goes to the kitchen and begins to cut into the fleshy white cheese and then stops as the tears come. She puts her head down, but her shoulders betray her. After a moment, she calms herself and looks over at BEN, who hasn't moved but is looking at her.) That was a test, by the way ... to see if you have a decent fucking bone in your body. / Which you failed.
BEN I just ... / I'm sorry, Abby, but ...
ABBY What? You what ... ? Tell me.
BEN I just can't right now.
ABBY "Can't?"
BEN No ... not at the moment.
ABBY "Can't" what? Be human?!
BEN No. I can't, no. / Not at this time.
ABBY Jesus; you're amazing ... / Seriously, you are.
BEN I'm just telling you how it is ...
ABBY Oh great. Thanks, Ben, thanks a bunch.
 
ABBY takes a piece of cheese and shoves it in her mouth. Chews. BEN sits up a bit, brushes off his legs. He turns on the phone and looks at it. It rings.
 
BEN Should I ...?
ABBY Answer it or keep it off. It's up to you.
BEN Maybe I should ... I mean ...
ABBY Yeah, maybe you really, really should. Go ahead.
BEN ... just say I'm doing all right or ... / You know...

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Verlag
FSG Adult
Erscheinungsdatum
2003
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0571211380
ISBN 13 
9780571211388
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
90
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

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