LaBute’s Mercy Seat in York

The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute is a brilliant piece and in its current production at the York Theatre Royal, superbly interpreted. To use 9/11 as the context for a penetrating  dramatic investiagtion of human identity and morality was inspired. The language is powerful. The structure of the play, moving from a tentative andante, through a barbed scherzo, to an intense and aggressive allegro, and back again, was almost symphonic. The performances of Lesley Harcourt and Andrew Macklin could not be bettered. They deserve a medal.