Let’s Talk Cock (The Play, You Dirty Things!)
On West Colfax at Teller Street, you’ll find a shiny and modern example of Denver’s community theater. Upon walking into their art-filled, contemporary space we perused their three-alcove art gallery displaying works from local artists. That alone is worth a visit, but on this Friday night, we were there to experience COCK. No, it’s not what you think. Well, it kind of is what you think, but probably not in the way you’re thinking it. (Well, ok maybe it is … or at least we hope!)
The Edge Theater, located at 1560 Teller Street, is currently showing the award-winning and regional premier of Mike Bartlett’s play COCK — an up-close and candid look at one man’s sexual identity crisis and the crippling effect of societal pressures that are only complicated by the difficulties that arise when one realizes life has choices.
In this edgy, love-triangle production, the audience sits around a corrugated-aluminum and chain-link fence arena, much like what your mind’s eye would expect an illegal cockfighting ring would look like. The set, designed by Christopher Waller prepares spectators for a match of snarky wit and emotional tug o’ war.
Prior to the show, director Robert Kramer described his use of tight space to create battling intimacy between the characters and moments of deliberate distance to convey compassionate avoidance — a pantomime-less, choreographed mating ritual of sorts. (Something only an innovative and gutsy director could pull off effectively, which Kramer does.)
The main character, John, grippingly played by Michael Bouchard, is a bewildered gay man whose world is thrown into the boxing ring where he becomes the consolation prize. The opponents, characters only known to us as M and W, are the prizefighters, refereed in the final bout by character F.
The first two extended and flashback scenes tell the story of John’s prizefighting relationships, with round one focusing on John and M, a scornful yet doting soul played by Brian Landis Folkins. It’s in round two that we come to understand how the “other woman,” W, lands in John’s life — and he in her bed. W, played by the instantly likeable Rachel Bouchard, seems an innocent bystander with man-hands (you’ll have to see the show) who fancifully walks into M’s lioness den for the “final bout.” Here, we meet M’s biased patriarch and referee, F, played by the deviously prudent Chris Kendall.
Bartlett strips back the layers of life’s dramas, exposing the raw emotions we all can relate to or will come to experience when navigating relationships and he does it entirely through language. COCK is a straight (or not-so-straight) play known for its strong characters and well-crafted dialogue.
If, after seeing COCK, you leave the theater doing a mental double-take, thinking twice about what you just experienced, I believe Bartlett, his directors, and the actors who play his characters would feel they’ve accomplished what they set out to do.
When: Now through April 5
Where: Edge Theatre
(1560 Teller St in Lakewood)
theedgetheater.com
