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May 23, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com
THEATER
Cock Sure A bisexual love triangle brutally played out in a fighting ring wearing vixen. Poor John. Even after his headn st a g i n g “C o ck ,” M i ke B a r- spinning encounter with W, he contlett’s brashly titled play about fesses to M, “I still wack off to you love, bounda r ies, a nd indeci- every night.” Enraged at John’s vacillation, M sion, t he creators have ta ken t he concept of “t heater in t he yells, “You’re small. You’re a halfarse. You’re a lame duck. You’re a round” quite literally. They have transformed the Duke stream. I want a river.” The epic clash reaches its crescentheater into a sort of micro-arena, with five concentric tiers of seats do toward the end of the 90-minute, looking down on a cir cular play- intermissionless drama at a dinner ing space about 20 feet across. The party where M and W meet for the first time, forcing whole setup evokes John to face some the sort of cockfightCOCK fundamental truths. ing rings common in The Duke 229 W. 42nd St. Entering the fray is Britain befor e they Through Jul. 22 M ’ s d a d F, s e r v i n g wer e outlawed (the Tue.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sat. at 2 p.m. as sort of referee of inhumane practice Sun. at 3 & 7 p.m. the spectacle. is still legal in some $79.50; dukeon42.org Or 646-223-3010 While the drama’s countries). title and characWhich is entirely fitting, since this astonishingly ter names may err on the gimmicky potent piece of theater features a side (I presume M stands for man, p a r t i c u l a r l y v i c i o u s b o u t a m o n g W for woman, and F for father), the John, a budding bisexual afraid of conceit is anything but. Under the labels, M, his caustic, pushy boy- razor-sharp direction of James Macfriend, and W, a clever cardigan- donald, this production is stripped BY DAVID KENNERLEY
JOAN MARCUS
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Jason Butler Harner, Amanda Quaid, and Cory Michael Smith in Mike Bartlett’s “Cock.”
to the bone — no scenery or props, and costumes (by Miriam Buether) that could have come from the actors’ own closets. There is a lighting design credit (Peter Mumford) although the harsh, even light never seems to change.
All the better to view the true backdrop — the faces of audience members, alive with expression, which serve to intensify the experience. In keeping with the cock-
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COCK, continued on p.23
Searing Examination (Little Observation) Mark Ravenhill’s leads us into the darkness of our collective compromise BY ANDY HUMM
art in a scripted exchange that could have done with more spontaneity, stumbled upon out gay Mark but was nevertheless historically R a v e n h i l l ’s b r e a k t h r o u g h valuable. “pool (no water),” a 2006 work, “ Shoppi n g a nd F uck i n g ” i n London in 1996, drawn by the is making its American premier at then-outrageous title only to the little 9th Space and is in many find a terrific play with an even more ways perhaps his darkest work, not provocative plot about drug dealing by using shocking language but by getting inside the and gay teen prostiheads of people like tution. It was a knife POOL (NO WATER) us who can collecto the anus — literalOne Year Lease Theater Company 9th Space tively go bad when ly, for one character. 150 First Ave. at 9th St. an opportunity presRavenhill’s 2002 May 26 at 2:30 p.m. ents itself. I saw it “Mother Clap’s Molly May 23-26 at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday after House” at the Nation$25: 9thspace.org Or 212-352-3101 noon that might be al Theatre about described as “theater cross-dressing 17th (no audience),” as century male prostitutes illuminated some lost history the five game players performed for in a less compelling drama. And we about ten of us. The play just got a money review saw him at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn last year on stage inter - from the New York Times that ought viewing the legendary Bette Bourne, of Bloolips fame, about his life and 䉴 POOL, continued on p.23
SCOTT J. FETTERMAN
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Richard Saudek in the One Year Lease Theater Company’s production of Mark Ravenhill’s “pool (no water),” directed by Ianthe Demos.