The Royal Court Theatre’s Olivier Award-winning play COCK opened to rave reviews last night and has just announced a new block of tickets is now on sale. Written by Mike Bartlett, directed by James Macdonald and starring Jason Butler Harner as M, Amanda Quaid as W, Cory Michael Smith as John and Cotter Smith as F, COCK is playing Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street, a NEW 42nd STREET project, 229 West 42nd Street.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Cockfight Play” is not the title of the terrific, tense little comedy by Mike Bartlett that opened on Thursday night at the Duke on 42nd Street. Its real name, which is only one syllable, is unprintable here, and “Cockfight Play” is being used in advertisements in family newspapers.
Yet there is occasionally truth in even the subterfuges of advertising. And as it happens, the publicized title is an accurate description for the experience of this feisty, hypnotic and oddly energizing exercise in emotional carnage, which has been directed (by James Macdonald) and acted (by a four-member ensemble) with a brute focus that suggests to-the-death battles of penned animals.
-Ben Brantley, The New York Times
Click here to read the entire review.
TIME OUT NEW YORK
Bisexuality is the no-man’s-land of erotic identity: a shifting zone that can inspire distrust or even mockery from partisans in the homo or hetero camps. Often it’s considered a dodge by the self-deluded and semicloseted, or else it’s sanctioned by straight men to vicariously enjoy lesbian spectacles. Mike Bartlett’s Cock isn’t really about the bi lifestyle. Although John (Cory Michael Smith) begins an affair with W (Amanda Quaid) while briefly separated from M (Jason Butler Harner), the real theme is sexual power. John loves being loved, even if it drives his paramours into violent agonies.
-David Cote, Time Out New York
Click here to read the entire review.
NEW YORK POST
Never mind its provocative title: “Cock” is about love. Things get complicated as people fall in and out of it,
but this wonderful 90-minute show renders the emotional mess with great simplicity.
-Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post
Click here to read the entire review.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A cockfight is a contest between two gamecocks, often conducted in a circular arena called a cockpit. That partially explains the wry title and unusual staging of Mike Bartlett’s edgy play, “Cock,” but of course, there’s more to it. While much of the focus is on confrontations among characters in a love triangle, the thoughtful, Olivier Award-winning play, which premiered in London in 2009, is more deeply about the folly of forcing someone to limit his sexual identity. The painfully funny, intense production that opened Thursday night off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street is crisply staged by James Macdonald, who also directed the London show.
-Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press
Click here to read the entire review.
When John and his boyfriend take a break, the last thing he expects is to suddenly meet the woman of his dreams. Now he has a big choice to make.
Tickets for COCK are available by calling The Duke on 42nd Street Box Office at 646-223-3010 or online at www.Dukeon42.org Box office hours are Tuesday-Fridays from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Saturdays from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm and 7pm.
Click here to watch a sneak peek at the production.
For more information about COCK, visit www.CockfightPlay.com.
# # #
Follow COCK on Facebook and Twitter
** If your publication will not allow you to print the title as “Cock,” we suggest you print the following:
“_ _ _ _” (The Cockfight Play)
OR
“_ _ _ _” (www.CockfightPlay.com)