Cock

The reason why John (Jonathan Bailey) cheats on boyfriend M (Taron Egerton) with a woman, W (Jade Anouka), is patently obvious from the opening scene, and it's not because John is struggling with the tyranny of heteronormativity, it's simply because M is horrible to him. The laddish M constantly diminishes John in a curiously homophobic way and as Jade later points out "Respect is what he went looking for". So, despite the modish framing of this piece as being about casting off labels, it's an age-old love triangle about finding your soulmate. Given a starry revival here, it's a play that, at 13 years old, doesn't live up to what many want it to be today.

Premiered at Royal Court's tiny upstairs theatre in 2009, and starring Ben Whishaw, it went to off-Broadway but never really had a West End berth. It gets a high profile one here. Hottest director in town, Marianne Elliott, gives it her signature, smart, stylish vibe and it has *Star Casting*. Bailey is just off Bridgerton and won an Olivier for Elliott's production of Company, and Egerton is a Golden Globe winner for his astonishing portrayal of Elton John in Rocketman. For good measure, the always reliable scene-stealer Phil Daniels has a small part as M's Dad. Jade Anouka (His Dark Materials) gives the sole woman in this triangular debate some real gravitas.

The play has a stripped-down, modernist aesthetic with a bare stage framed by a huge curved metallic wall, lit by dangling fluorescent rods. We're in a barrel which adds to the cockpit intensity but throws all the focus on the actors. Elliott's clipped style, greatly enhanced by razor-sharp lighting (Paule Constable) and sinuous movement direction (Annie-Lunette Deakin-Foster), keeps the pace up and lends the piece an intensity that is lacking from the dialogue, which is often flabby. Here the sex scenes are integral to the plot, but the cast remain clothed and wittily mime them, all very apt in our era of 'intimacy co-ordinators'.

Egerton pins down M's controlling nature and is not afraid to be dislikeable, while Bailey captures John's flirtiness, manipulative in another way. He totally embraces this demanding role and oscillates between a sweet, quicksilver, comic timing and a pained, but often self-indulgent, intensity.

It all hinges on him and reaches a climax in a long dinner party scene where John has invited W, and both lovers are led to believe the other will be dumped. This may make for a great theatrical set-up, but it really stretches credulity.

We're asked to believe that John is tortured because he has to make a binary decision and we should all be just 'human', as if readjusting his label somehow solves the issue, but the problem is he is exactly being human and is caught in a triangle as old as time.

NOTE: Joel Harper-Jackson has taken over the role of M from Taron Egerton, who has had to withdraw from the production due to personal reasons after testing positive for COVID-19.

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