Last week I attended a performance of "Cock," a play by Mike Bartlett, directed by James McDonald and presented at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street in Manhattan. The prissy folk at the NY Times couldn't bring themselves to call the play by its given name, so they called it The Cockfight when they reviewed it. And, in fact, the producers have placed a picture of a fighting rooster on the cover of the Playbill, clearly to invoke a double meaning for the title. In the large performing space at the Duke Theater they have built a wooden cockpit, with the audience sitting around on all four sides on thin mats on the bar wood with no backs. I think it is intended to be uncomfortable, mirroring the play itself, which is quite uncomfortable but completely gripping.
Young John (20-something) has been living for several years in a relationship with M, an "older" man (in this context, I would guess that means around 40), but something is missing from the relationship. John is not getting enough sustenance out of it, there is too much arguing, and he decides to call it off and walk out. No sooner does he do so than he falls into conversation in the street with W, an attractive woman he sees daily on his way to work, the conversation becomes sexual, and he finds himself in her apartment having mind-blowing sex. This places him in a quandary. He had previously concluded that he was gay, and had never been attracted to women, but he is attracted to W. Still, he fills a pull back to M and returns to him, but conflicted now by his other attraction and can't keep from talking about it. Finally, M, perturbed, suggests a dinner of the three of them to "have it out" – to which M invited M's father, a widower who is a staunch supporter of his son's relationship with John. The play culminates in the confrontation of the four of them….
To begin with, the acting and staging are superb. Young Cory Michael Smith portrays John with an intensity and complexity that is totally compelling. He has the hardest workout in this 90 minute, intermissionless play, being on stage almost continually and having to be "in character" without a break. His achievement is admirable. Jason Butler Harner is also very intense as M, Amanda Quaid superb as W, and Cotter Smith as F, the father, is also most impressive. Not a weak link in this cast. The physical set-up for the performance – no sets, no props, everything imagined – works quite well, and the intensity of the performances immediately bring one into the psychological dilemmas of the story.
Is this a story about bisexuality and its difficulties? Perhaps, but I think that's too obvious. It's about the puzzle of human sexuality, about questions of identity and attraction and emotion. The last third of the play is about M and W and F all pressing John to make a choice, to decide what his identity is and where his loyalty lies, and poor John is left in his quandary. Ultimately the play does not present any clear answer to the questions it poses, but it clearly exposes the undue simplicity of F's assertion that everybody is gay or straight, created that way.
In some ways, the play, the work of a British author and set in London, is a bit behind the times. The rising generation of high school and college students include some who refuse to label themselves as gay, straight or bisexual. They say categories and labels are not for them. Rather, they are sexual beings who have various attractions and emotional attachments, some involving physical interaction, others not. Some younger folks prefer to label themselves as queer, but some prefer no label at all. Perhaps they are the most likely to identify with John.
I think this is really a breakthrough performance for young Mr. Smith, who has a real star quality, and one hopes for many opportunities to seem him in the future. While the entire cast is strong, he is the center of attention throughout the play, and carries it well in a very challenging role.