After their critically acclaimed production of La Bête takes its final bow later this week at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre Theatre, Talk Is Free Theatre will wrap up their 2023-24 season in Barrie with another play sporting a beastly title.

Cock, the Laurence Olivier Award-winning play by Mike Bartlett, will run April 18-27, 2024–official opening on April 19–at the Barrie By The Bay Commercial Complex at 80 Bradford Street–the same building that houses TIFT’s offices. The site-specific production will be directed by Dylan Trowbridge, whom TIFT audiences will know as the director of the aforementioned La Bête, as well as the Herringbone/TheYalta Game double bill a few seasons ago.

At once hilarious, heart-wrenching and psychologically intense, Cock is the story of John, a gay man who has been in a stable relationship with his boyfriend for a number of years. But when they take a break, John accidentally falls in love with a woman. Torn between the two, filled with guilt and conflicting emotions, he doesn’t know which way to turn. His boyfriend is willing to wait for him to make a decision, but so is his girlfriend. And both are prepared to fight to keep him. As the pressure mounts, a dinner with both parties is arranged, and everyone wants to know what John will do.

TIFT veteran Jakob Ehman (For Both Resting and Breeding, The Libertine) will take on the role of John. Michael Torontow, a Talk Is Free Theatre regular and Dora nominee for his Sweeney in TIFT’s Sweeney Todd, will play John’s boyfriend, M, while Tess Benger, another TIFT regular and Sweeney Todd Dora nominee will play W, the woman. New to the TIFT stage is Kevin Bundy (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, several productions with Soulpepper, Stratford and Shaw) as F (no spoilers).

Joining Trowbridge on the creative team will be Nolan Moberly (Tales of An Urban Indian–Suriname, Chile and New Zealand) as Assistant Director and Sound Designer. Kathleen Black (Mahagonny Songspiel, Dora nominee for set design for Sweeney Todd) will serve as Production Designer. Crystal Lee will helm as Production Supervisor, and Koh Lauren Quan (Arts Club, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Drayton) will manage the stage.

For Director Trowbridge, Cock’s themes are grand and universal: “It is about massive, unfathomable love–the power, the danger and the wonder of love. It is about impossible love and the temptation and the terror of it. It is also about heartbreak–about deep, all-consuming connection and the dread of losing it. It is a play about coming back to life. But, most of all, it is a play about happiness–a play that begs us to seize joy.”

While one’s mind might leap to certain conclusions surrounding the play’s provocative title, it was Bartlett’s exposure to the continued existence and popularity of cockfighting while at a writing retreat in Mexico that provided inspiration for the play. It was for this TIFT chose to produce Cock site-specifically rather than in a traditional theatre space. “We want audiences to feel as though they are being given exclusive, yet somewhat taboo access to deeply private moments in the lives of these characters,” says Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak. “Even when you arrive at 80 Bradford Street there will still be an element of secrecy and surprise to where, exactly, this particular ‘cockfight’ will take place.”

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Cock

By Mike Bartlett

Directed by Dylan Trowbridge

DATES

April 18 – 27, 2024

VENUE

Barrie By The Bay Commercial Centre

80 Bradford Street, Barrie

SCHEDULE (Approximate Running Time: 100 minutes with no intermission)

Thursday, April 18, 7:30 p.m. (Complimentary Preview Performance)

Friday, April 19, 8:00 p.m. (Opening Night)

Saturday, April 20, 8:00 p.m. (Sold Out)

Wednesday, April 24, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, April 25, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, April 26, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 27, 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 27, 8:00 p.m.

TICKETS

Regular tickets - $39 +HST

Full-time students or artists (ID required uponentry) - $19.50 +HST

Purchase here: www.tift.ca or call 705-792-1949.