Stage Door News

Barrie: Talk Is Free Theatre’s sold-out “Cock” will return to Toronto in April

Monday, January 27, 2025

Talk Is Free Theatre Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak announced today that the Barrie-based company, who also maintain a distinguished presence in the Toronto theatre scene, will remount their production of Cock in April.

The play is currently running until January 31 and enjoying a sold-out run at its unconventional, intimate venue inside the Artists Play Studio within the Carlaw Industrial Centre. Popular demand will see it return April 5-20.

“The audience response has been wonderful,” says Spivak, “and given its site-specific staging, it’s relatively easy to bring it back. These artists are doing beautiful work and it’s a beautiful play, so I am excited for more people to take it in.”

The hit play by British playwright Mike Bartlett is about John, a gay man, who has been in a relationship with his partner for seven years. But when he meets and falls in love with a woman, he is forced to contemplate the boundaries of his identity and decide what he really wants for his future. Cock currently stars Jakob Ehman as John, Michael Torontow as M, Tess Benger as W and Kevin Bundy as F. It is directed by Dylan Trowbridge with assistance from Nolan Moberly, stage managed by Jordan Guetter, and production managed by Jeff Braunstein with assistance from Melissa Cameron. The production design is by Kathleen Black; Moberly also designs the sound.

Cock is one of two plays Talk Is Free Theatre is producing site-specifically in Toronto this month, with Canadian playwright Adam Meisner’s For Both Resting and Breeding playing inside a residence in the city’s Parkdale neighbourhood, also running until January 31. TIFT will take Cock, For Both Resting and Breeding, and its most produced play, Tales of an Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis, for a stint in Kyoto, Japan, early next month.

COCK

By Mike Bartlett

Directed by Dylan Trowbridge

Running until January 31; returning April 5-20, 2025

Artists Play Studio

Carlaw Industrial Complex

388 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto

Tickets: $48+HST; $24+HST for artists/students (ID must be shown at box office) are available for select performances. 

Visit www.tift.ca