Hamlet has been summarised as the tragedy of someone who could not make up his mind. But the dithering Dane’s procrastination pales into insignificance compared to the central character in Mike Bartlett’s Cock.
There is an artificial atmosphere to the play. The script assigns a name to only one of the characters; the others are referred to only by initials as if to let the audience know their role is to simply articulate ideas and opinions rather than be real people. Fortunately, the high quality of the acting by tonight’s cast compensates and ensures the emotional as well as intellectual impact of the concepts hit home.
John (Callum Ravden) cannot make up his mind. Having previously ended his seven-year relationship with his boyfriend M (John O’Neill), he returns and attempts to reconcile. John mentions, however, despite having identified as gay for his whole life, he has, while they were apart, had sex with a woman, W (Hannah Ellis Ryan). Hurt by John’s infidelity and lack of commitment, M proposes W be invited to dinner, intending an ambush to ensure John rejects his new lover. M stacks the deck by inviting his father, F (Toby Hadoke), to attend the dinner knowing he will take his son’s side and help persuade John to stay with M.
The graphic sex scenes in Cock make staging a challenge. Director Rupert Hill sensibly pushes the artificial tone of the script towards the abstract. There are no props and the stage is bare, with the cast initially seated within the audience. Despite the physical nature of some scenes, the cast do not touch and remain apart—sex takes place between two characters, fully clothed, standing on opposite sides of the stage from each other. It is possible events are unfolding as memories in John’s mind as he constantly frets over the decisions he needs to take.
The coolly neutral staging actually adds to the humour. There is a scientific curiosity to John exploring his sexual options; excitement is a secondary consideration. John peers in fascination, and with more than a little unease, between W’s legs like Sherlock Holmes at a crime scene. It is possible M and W are attracted to John as his indecision makes him malleable and eager to please. John is the more passive partner in the relationship with W, allowing her to take the initiative, and tries to spare M’s feelings by lying and saying he was attracted to W because she is ‘manly’ in appearance.
There is a sharp difference in tone between the two acts. Act one concentrates on John’s confused sexual odyssey, while act two is more combative like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf amped up on amphetamines. This is comedy of cruelty, with an increasingly withdrawn John behaving like a child watching his parents fight as his lovers tear into each other.
John O’Neill gives M a waspish personality, just about restraining himself from showing his disdain for the other characters; at one point, he mimics Hannah Ellis Ryan’s Aussie twang. M is summed up as someone who cooks using recipes from The Guardian, and O’Neill captures this precise demanding approach. Hannah Ellis Ryan is more than capable of responding to his barbs and, with a confident swagger, easily dismisses casual sexist remarks from F. Toby Hadoke’s common sense F, who says grace at mealtimes to acknowledge good fortune rather than as religious observation, is out of his emotional depth amid such high passion.
Yet, both M and W have a point. John’s behaviour is disgraceful, failing to acknowledge the hurt his actions inflict upon other people. There is the impression John is behaving childishly and hoping his lovers will somehow resolve the conflict without him having to get involved.
In act one, Callum Ravden’s performance has a light touch, a sense of curiosity. By act two, however, the full emotional impact of John endlessly reviewing his options is apparent. Crushed by indecision, Ravden does not have to speak but behaves as if facing a firing squad: desperate eyes, body incapable of movement and fists clenching compulsively.
HER Productions’s version of Cock analyses the complexities of the rules of attraction in a compelling and disturbingly entertaining manner.