COCK at Rogue Machine Theatre

Les Spindle –  Edge on the Net

Also known as “Cockfight Play,” a perhaps less threatening title preferred in some media outlets, Mike Bartlett’s Olivier Award winning British play, “Cock,” makes its L.A. debut in a taut and terrific staging. Read more…

Margaret Gray – LA Times

“We’re just going around in circles,” a character accurately observes in British playwright Mike Bartlett’s “Cockfight Play,” having its L.A. premiere at Rogue Machine Theatre. (The actual title, unprintable here, is two syllables shorter. Read more…

Steven Leigh Morris  – LA Weekly

English playwright Mike Bartlett’s Cock premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre when he was 29. Even now, he’s only in his mid-30s. His tautly written play is also a love story, but one that has little to do with The End. Read more…

Neal. Weaver – Arts in LA

Mike Bartlett’s long one-act is a tale of uncertain sexual identity. It attempts to be both visceral and abstract. The central figure is John (Patrick Stafford), the only character who is given a name. He has been living for some time with his lover M (for Man?), played by Matthew Elkins. John claims to love M, but when a young woman, here called W (Rebecca Mozo), takes an erotic interest in him, he succumbs almost immediately to her blandishments, and they tumble into bed. Read more…

Hoyt Hilsman  –  Huffington Post

British playwright Mike Bartlett’s play (whose actual title is less family-friendly) about the ambivalence of love and sexuality, which won the Olivier Award in its 2010 production in London, has both the rewards and the shortcomings of a traditional “problem play.” Read more…

Now running through November 3.