The Corpus Playroom production of Mike Bartlett’s COCK opened with the sound of heartbeat fastening as John (Jamie Sayers) and M, his boyfriend (Joe Pieri) enter into the entirely bare white box that has been made of the Corpus Playroom’s stage. The protagonist, John, is both literally and figuratively put under a spotlight. The play centres around him as he struggles to find his identity whilst forced by the people around him to fit into a category with a clear label. Is he gay, is he straight, is he bisexual?

 "The moments of comedy sprinkled into the production – credit here is due to the talented cast –made the sudden ending all the more powerful"

Director Maya Yousif made the decision not to distract from the work of the talented cast with any props or elements of set other than a white table and two spotlights in opposite corners of the white cube. M, W (Hannah Lyall) and F (Kim Alexander) – M’s father in the original script, was here mother – were stock characters. Isobel Wood’s clean, white set and successfully highlighted this reading of Bartlett’s work.

 

Bella Biddle

The tension between the characters was kept up with a great use of space, the actors moved around keeping in mind the presence of audience members on both sides of the Playroom. Scenes that might could have posed a challenge in terms of directorial choice, such as a sex scene between John and W, were resolved in clever ways. Yousif, found the perfect balance between a mere allusion to the sexual intercourse between the two characters, and an explicitly enacted sex scene that can quickly become fake and uncomfortable. She decided focus on the emotional connection – excellently played by Sayers and Lyall – flourishing between the two characters through their physical connection. Facing away from one another at first, John and W turned towards each other as they, whilst getting to know each other physically, also, and most importantly, gained an emotional connection. This directorial decision was excellent in creating sympathy for John as, whilst he spent seven years in a loving relationship with his boyfriend, it is made clear that his connection with W cannot be dismissed.

 

The incredible acting of all four members of the cast left the audience without a single moment of boredom. They managed to find a rhythm, snappy at times, with pauses at all the right places, that allowed the spectators to be completely drawn into the world depicted. Pieri’s going from portraying the loving partner to being angry in a split second must be highlighted. Scene changes signalled with a beeping sound were fast, without however, making the spectator lose the plot line. Tension rose all throughout the play and eventually culminated in the ultimate scene. Pieri literally turned the spotlights on as John’s identity was put under a microscope by everyone around him in this uncomfortable dinner scene. The moments of comedy sprinkled into the production – credit here is due to the talented cast – left the audience bursting out in laughter throughout the entire play making the sudden ending all the more powerful.

 


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Put into a blinding spotlight by his loved ones, John remains speechless at the end of the play, he is obliterated, unable to respond to M. The other characters are challenged too, W challenges F’s sexual identity that suggesting that she might be attracted to her. But most importantly, the audience is challenged. The audience, is, itself under the spotlight given the Playroom’s layout where, because of the blinding white walls and intense spotlights, the audience members watching the play can also examine one another’s’ reactions. The question that needs to be answered is not: What is John’s sexual identity? - as Bartlett says about categorisation: “By the end you’ll hopefully go, that’s not the point.” The question, beautifully highlighted by this production is, what role do we, you, me, W, M, and all the members of the audience play in reducing each other to nothing but labels.