La Boite: Cock

With a prick tease of a title like, Cock, I’m sure ticket sales will be up for La Boite’s current production.  If you are one of the lucky ones to get your bum on a seat, you will be satisfied with what this play delivers.

Written by British playwright Mike Bartlett, Cock is a contemporary love triangle turned on its head, exploring themes of sexuality, identity, and relationships. John, played by Tom Conroy, and the only character in the play who has a name, is growing tired of his long-term, live-in relationship with M (Eamon Flack).  While on a break he falls in love with a woman, W (Sophie Ross). Tom is paralysed with indecision between the old ‘devil-you-know’ kind of love and a new love offering a ‘normal’ life.  A civilised dinner party is suggested to which all are invited, including a surprise guest, M’s father F (Tony Rickards).

Overseas the work is known as ‘The Cockfight Play’, which at the beginning of the dinner party in the second act, lighting designer Rachel Burke adds a humorous nod to the gladiatorial sport which will have the three fighting to the death of their dignity in an effort to win John’s heart.

In the first act Greenroom award winner Tom Conroy plays John as a largely unlikeable, inert, and self-indulgent person teetering on the fence of indecision, just letting life happen with little regard for the impact on the people closest to him. It is hard for an actor to win the audience over from this standpoint, but Conroy manages to elicit empathy as we come to understand the turmoil of someone who doesn’t really know what, or more importantly, who he is. Conroy’s acting really came to the fore when John was forced to speak his mind and heart in the midst of indecision, turbulence, confusion and sheer panic.

Sophie Ross was charming as the free spirited woman in the love triangle and was engaging to watch. Tony Rickards as her loving but overprotective father F, was aptly opinionated, manipulative and overbearing. But it was Eamon Flack as John’s partner M, who had me riveted. I don’t know whether it was the incredibly witty and insightful writing, or Eamon’s delivery of it, but his emotions were so embodied that his physicality gave away his conflict, hurt, and suppressed anger, just as much as his words. His physicality was a master class in acting and reminded me of the character Holmes in the TV series Elementary, played by the brilliant Jonny Lee Miller. A slight digression, but I challenge you to compare the similarities. Eamon has won another fan who will go and see anything with his name on the poster from now on.

Directed by MTC Associate Director Leticia Cáceres, the Roundhouse Theatre was ideal for this production, as it was intended by the playwright to be performed in the round with minimal set and props. The set design (Marg Horwell) gives a new meaning to the phrase ‘pillow talk’.  The floor is covered in a patchwork of white pillows, which the actors use throughout to build and break bridges between each other. I wasn’t sure how long this metaphor could be kept up, but it was a clever theatrical device that once committed to had to be played out till the end. With minimal set to add dimension and atmosphere, the soundscape by The Sweats (MTC’s Composer in Residence Pete Goodwin) and original compositions by multi award winning singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, added great depth to the piece.

The Olivier Award winning play which runs for one-hundred minutes without an interval, is an exploration of the human condition. The emotional longing, ecstasy, and torture of intimate relationships is universal and the playwright is clearly making the point that you fall in love with the person, not their gender.

Equally as funny as it is thought provoking, Cock is a highly recommended contemporary work to be added to your theatrical playlist for 2014 and is at the Roundhouse Theatre until 12 April.