Cock
But that's what this is, isn't it? The ultimate bitch fight.
When John takes a break from his boyfriend, his accidentally meets the girl of his dreams. Filled with guilt and indecision, he decides there is only one way to straighten this out . . .
Mike Bartlett’s metrosexual play about love and longing provides us with questions of who we are and who we want to be. John’s refusal to fix his identity disturbs and disrupts the lives of those around him in this contemporary tale of sex without nudity and struggle without violence. Mike Bartlett's punchy story takes a playful, candid look at one man's sexuality and the difficulties that arise when you realise you have a choice.
Cock premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 13 November 2009.
It is published here in the Modern Classics series, featuring an introduction by Mark O'Thomas.
Mike Barlett's debut, My Child (Royal Court, May 2007) saw him hailed by The Stage as 'one of the most exciting new talents to emerge in recent times'. He is a winner of the Old Vic New Voices Award for Artefacts (Bush Theatre). In 2009, his play Cock won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, while Contractions was nominated for the TMA Best New Play award. Bartlett was Pearson Playwright in Residence at the Royal Court in 2007, and is currently Associate Playwright at Paines Plough. He has also written seven plays for the radio, including Not Talking for which he won the Writer's Guild Tinniswood and Imison prizes.
Mark O’Thomas is Professor of Theatre & Performance at Newcastle University.