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Wrecks and Other Plays
Can someone honestly love a person whom they have deceived for thirty years? This is the central question behind Wrecks , Neil LaBute's latest foray into the dark side of human nature. Meet Edward loving father, successful businessman, grieving widower. In this concise powerhouse of a play, LaBute limns the boundaries of love, exploring the limits of what society will accept versus what the heart will desire. This collection also features rarely staged short plays, including "Liars' Club," "Coax," and the never-before-seen "Falling in Like."
144 pages, Paperback
First published July 10, 2007
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About the author
Neil LaBute
85 books120 followersNeil LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 18, 2010
hmmm, Bastion was right. This collection of quickly-writen-for-famous friends-to-play monologues was below average in every facet it lacked. Dull, Dull, rehashed LaDullness. Oh, well I like his full lengths even when they are predictable!
September 9, 2020
Really loved this in high school because I was a theatre kid who thought it was cool to like Neil LaBute. I even used 3 monologues from here for my student directed play even though they weren’t that amazing or special. Fun for long monologues that are pretty well-written, but nothing really outstanding, shocking, thought-provoking, inspiring.
February 10, 2020
Eh. Didn’t particularly care for the lead play (Wrecks) and the rest of these “orphans” were a mixed bag. Underdeveloped monologues or short one-scene plays that were mostly intriguing but needed more work before being published. LaBute probably has the makings of a few good plays in here, but right now these are more like reading sketches of ideas turned into spoken word. I liked the ideas (some, not all) but can’t say that I liked the plays.
Want to read
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September 5, 2012
A wonderful collection of plays and monologues from a very talented playwright. Some pieces in this were truly stellar-- I especially liked 'Liar's Club' and 'Coax', although 'Love at Twenty' was also very good. They were all well done, and all rather thought provoking. Even the ones I didn't like very much, like 'Stand-up,' made me pause and think about things. I honestly can't offer that much specific criticism: overall, it's an excellent collection, but I feel as though there was something missing from a few of the plays. Another complaint I have is that the voices of the characters tended to be very similar, especially when you compare the many monologues. They aren't so similar that there's no characterization, but the way they speak tends to become monotonous if you read them all back to back. And finally, I guess LaBute, while undeniably talented, just doesn't speak to me the way some of my favorite playwrights-- Durang, Albee-- do. Still, if you're a LaBute fan, this is a nice collection, and some are truly brilliant.
August 24, 2008
2 1/2 stars really. I have to give it to Neil Labute for being good at what he does. You always know that the absurd plot twist is coming, even if you don't usually know where. So the unpredictable becomes highly predictable in a way. So...good for him. That said, some of the other stuff in this collection is just snotty Pirandello-inspired nonsense that gets to be really grating.
I wonder if his view of the world really is that most people are completely two-faced (or at least the people who always win in his stuff).
I wonder if his view of the world really is that most people are completely two-faced (or at least the people who always win in his stuff).
October 28, 2009
The main play, Wrecks, is clever in that dark Neil LaBute way. I'm proud to say that the twist began dawning on me a few pages before the ultimate reveal, and I was appropriately horrified and thrilled at the same time.
The rest of the plays, mostly one-offs involving one or two characters, are a mixed bag. Few are as elaborately clever as Wrecks, and its trademark twists are mostly meta in nature, exploring the fourth wall, and that address grows tiresome after a while. I think I like LaBute's longer plays better.
The rest of the plays, mostly one-offs involving one or two characters, are a mixed bag. Few are as elaborately clever as Wrecks, and its trademark twists are mostly meta in nature, exploring the fourth wall, and that address grows tiresome after a while. I think I like LaBute's longer plays better.
May 7, 2010
Wrecks is a one-man monologue, an even harder sell than a short story. It is a short, easy piece that relies very much on a single punch line near the end. For that, you hear or read a long spiel by a used-car rental salesperson about his consuming passion for his recently deceased wife.
The writing is neither especially poetic nor humorous. One sits waiting for the punch line that must be coming to justify all this. If the punch line leaves you underwhelmed or unsurprised, there is very little payback for the time spent.
The writing is neither especially poetic nor humorous. One sits waiting for the punch line that must be coming to justify all this. If the punch line leaves you underwhelmed or unsurprised, there is very little payback for the time spent.
January 10, 2008
I liked WRECKS, the main play in this anthology, the most. I liked the others, as well, but I found them all a little samey. I was also annoyed by what I'm going to call "Labute's Overwhelming Need For Shock Value" in every play. I don't like being bowled over with shock at the end of every play that I read; I think ending plays & books that way can be a cheap device, unless done with subtlety. Overall, I liked the plays, though. Good monologue material throughout!
November 6, 2017
I am slowly understanding why so many friends of mine do not like his work. He writes on subjects that are difficult, and sometimes unnecessary. Yes, Wrecks is a take on Oedipus Rex but with very little resolution...at least the way I read it.
January 2, 2010
I'm a fan of this compilation of Labute's work. My partner & I performed 'Land of the Dead' from this collection @ ACTF in California and made it to the Semi-finals, so that scene and 'Wrecks' especially holds a special place with me.
August 14, 2009
Writing is top-notch. I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't read the preface before the play. Kinda saw the "a-ha" moment coming. But still, another LaBute knockout.
May 11, 2011
Love the opening monologue...That would be a hard thing to do and LaBute pulls it off admirably. I would love to see Ed Harris do this.
July 6, 2009
shit. these are some fine fine fucked up short plays.
December 1, 2010
AMAZING!!!!!!
March 9, 2015
Some really great thought provoking plays - and some more bizarre 1 person plays.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews