Cock (Modern Plays)
'a smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion... The writing is lubricious, sometimes grubby and in places savagely unpleasant. But it has a wounding authenticity.' Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard (London), 19.11.09 'Mike Bartlett's play is a sharp, witty study of a man helplessly torn between his longtime male partner and a loving woman. Barlett's theme, in fact, is less tortured bisexuality than the paralysing indecision that stems from not knowing who one really is.' Michael Billington, Guardian, 18.11.09 'brilliant and blackly hilarious' 'an equivalently brilliant and blackly hilarious feat of provocation' : 'I await Bartlett's next piece in a mock-sweat of unseemly anticipation' Paul Taylor, Independent, 23.11.09 'Barlett's cunning, intense contest yes, it's another tug-of-love' Michael Coveney, Whatsonstage, 19.11.09 'Terse, bold, blunt, emblematic of masculinity and, above all, sex, the word "cock" is also a British slang abbreviation for "cock and bull story", as in a succession of lies. Part of the excitement of Mike Bartlett's riveting new play is that it delivers on every one of those connotations.' David Benedict, Variety, 19.11.09