Cock

Don’t let the title fool you. Cock is a captivating piece of theatre raising deeply important questions about relationships, power, sexuality and conformity.

John is getting itchy feet in his same-sex relationship and during a short break-up period begins a relationship with a woman, leaving him in a world of indecision about sexuality and what he ultimately wants from life. When the trio eventually meet up, John is forced into a decision about his future.

The well-paced series of engrossing encounters include necessarily squirmy moments of intense discomfort. Melbourne’s opening night audience saw the drama unfold with gasps and some laughs. The gentleman next to me spent a large part of the play leaning forward in anticipation in his seat.

Performances were dazzling and characters completely engrossing. Captivating even. For 100 minutes without interval the cast of four negotiated around, manipulated and made use of a sea of large cushions, the significance of which probably depends on your outlook. They are soft and comforting where the situation is most definitely not. Were they signifiers of baggage, or pillow talk, or was it about disturbing our comfort zone?

If that isn’t enough, the astonishing compositional skill of Missy Higgins (is she yet an Australian icon?) provides a rich and warm soundtrack in between prickly situations. Deep relationships are as painful as they are precious, and the effect of our choices is by no means contained to the couple involved.

In the end the ultimate contention of this brilliant script is that successful relationships have less to do with sexuality and more to do with a gentle meeting of like minds.

Lucy Graham 

Images: (top) Sophie Ross (W), Tom Conroy (John) and Angus Grant (M) & (lower) Angus Grant (M) and Tom Conroy (John). Photographer: Jeff Busby.