Mike Bartlett's COCK Returns to London with New Staging at COLAB This Spring

Following sold-out runs in Canada and tours to Japan, South Africa, and Brazil, c*ckwill return to London this spring in a raw, intimate new staging from Canada's acclaimed Talk Is Free Theatre. Performances run Wednesday 22nd April – Saturday 2nd May 2026.

Originally written in 2009 by acclaimed British playwright Mike Bartlett, c*ckfeels newly urgent in this bold reimagining which examines the play through a contemporary lens, embracing fresh experimentation to ask how shifting identities and a changed world reshape the questions at its heart. After the 2022 West End adaption that had everyone talking, this new iteration offers London the chance to encounter Bartlett's play again in a strikingly different, close-quarters setting, with an entirely new cast.

At the core of the show is John, a man who has been in a steady relationship with his boyfriend for seven years. But when he unexpectedly falls in love with a woman, he is forced to confront questions he has long avoided about whether choosing the “easier” option is the same as choosing the right one. Bartlett's script is fast and unsentimental; there is no set, no props and no theatrical embellishment, just four actors caught in an escalating emotional stand-off. The language is sharp, often funny, sometimes brutal, revealing a play about the pressure to define yourself in a world that craves certainty.

Staged at COLAB in an immersive, arena-like configuration, audiences sit in close proximity to the performers, witnessing every shift in power at close range. With a capacity of just 34 seats per performance, this London run places viewers inside the conflict, restoring a sense of risk and immediacy that feels entirely in keeping with the play itself.

The London run reunites the team behind the company's previous sold-out staging of the show. Directed by Dylan Trowbridge (Dirty Dancing, Aldwych Theatre; La Bête, Talk Is Free Theatre), the cast features Dora Mavor Moore Awards nominees Aidan deSalaiz (Macbeth, The Stratford Festival; Company, Talk Is Free Theatre) and Michael Torontow (Every Brilliant Thing, Royal Manitoba Theatre; Titanique, Mirvish Productions), as well as META nominee Tess Benger (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre; Top Girls, Shaw Festival) and Kevin Bundy (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Toronto Ed Mirvish Theatre; As You Like It, Stratford Festival).

Director Dylan Trowbridge comments, Despite what its title may suggest, c*ckis a play about the human heart. It is about love's capacity to make us feel euphoric joy, brutal pain, desperate fear and overwhelming confusion.

The play is a battle, and the participants are fully exposed. Bartlett strips the script of visual and theatrical elements. He does this to bring the hearts and souls and hopes and fears of the characters into full focus. Inspired by this, we have removed the story from a traditional theatre space. Our venue is designed to maximize exposure and immerse our audience in a space of conflict- a battlefield with combatants and spectators in dangerously close proximity.