Neil LaBute is an enfant terrible of the American theatre....or rather, theater. His plays take a misanthropic look at the dark side of human nature, are laced with gender politics and imbued with emotional sadomasochism. All of these are apparent in THE MERCY SEAT, his theatrical response to the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
Rahul da Cunha's adaptation is called 27/11 and sets the play, not surprisingly, on the day after the terrorist attacks in Bombay on November 26, 2008. However, the script is not about the attacks per se; but uses their occurrence as the backdrop for a tenuous adulterous relationship between boss and employee.
In this, Nina Mehta is the mistress of her married underling Raj Mirpuri, who just happened to be at her home that evening, enjoying her "special Bangkok massage" instead of a boys' night out at the Taj. His constantly ringing cell-phone becomes the manifestation of the play's crux: should he play dead and use this opportunity to disappear and start a new life with his mistress? In examining the options, a veritable Pandora's Box is opened and the relationship laid bare in all its mutual use and abuse.
Rahul da Cunha's staging establishes this dynamic from the outset, with these people "faking the orgasm of life" accosting each other in confrontation, coming together in affection or stalking one another warily across the room. Considering this is a wordy script with only two characters, there is rarely any sense of it dragging, as the tension is maintained more-or-less consistently. However, it becomes clear the play depends almost entirely on the performances by the two actors; and here the results are uneven.
Shernaz Patel endows Nina with her customary sincerity and honesty, especially in the more emotional passages which can be quite searing. Even so, one can't help feeling that some facets of her characterisation remain under-developed, as she is sometimes merely elocutionary where more delineation is required.
Nadir Khan does not seem to have got under Raj Mirpuri's skin. With insufficient projection of both voice and character, this incredibly insecure, selfish man comes across as generalised and nondescript. And there is hardly any electricity between him and Ms Patel.
The production's design by Dhanendra Kawade could best be described as strange. With long, sharp shards of newspaper hanging from nets suspended over the realistic set, which also boasts a window with three staggered frames made of newspaper and a TV of the same material, it seems a 'statement' is being made, trying to place the play in context of the horrific events of 26/11. But the truth is, the script has very little to do with what happened that day; and what might have been truly frightening, had that actually been the case, comes across here as quite unnecessary, pretentious and even obtrusive. The living-room set itself, though, is finely judged and beautifully lit by Kawade and Yael Crishna.
It seems this production of 27/11 is a work-in-progress. One hopes the teething problems of opening night will soon be resolved because, with more work and a little re-think, the play's potential could be fully realised.
*Jiten S Merchant was the English drama critic for the Times of India (Mumbai) from 1989 to 1997, after which he free-lanced for the paper and on the Internet. He has worked in amateur and professional theatre as actor and sound-designer, and has directed and performed in staged play-readings. Currently, he is an accredited reviewer for Seen and Heard International, one of the oldest and most widely-read online purveyors of music-criticism, for whom he covers concerts of Western Classical music and Opera in Mumbai. His recent pieces are available on his blog: merchant-at-large.blogspot.in
