"Cock" Makes Philippine Premiere

A woman and a man fight it out for the love of another man in Cock.

Red Turnip Theater, an upstart theater production founded by five known theater actors, presents the Philippine edition of "Cock", a straight play written by renowned British playwright Mike Bartlett. The play is steadily getting positive reviews locally in England and internationally since the play premiered in 2009, even getting a Laurence Olivier Award the year later.

"Cock" is about a gay man who realized he can still fall in love with a woman and is willing to cut short his relationship with his male lover just to love her.

Topper Fabregas plays John, the central character. John's relationship with his boyfriend (Niccolo Manahan) has begun to be rocky, and the rockiness started to even accelerate when John met a former teacher (Jenny Jamora). After an intimate night with her, John realized he is in love with her. It sparked a battle for love and sexual identity that reached a boiling point when John's boyfriend invited John and his new-found love for dinner. A fourth visitor, the dad of John's boyfriend, portrayed by the "King of Philippine Musical Theater" Audie Gemora in a rare straight play performance, stepped in, and the confrontation heats up.

"Cock" is directed by Rem Zamora, one of the five guys behind Red Turnip (the others being Fabregas, Jamora, Cris Villongco, and Ana Abad Santos). In his directorial debut, he turned on Fabregas, Jamora, Gemora, and the returning Manahan, all with respected theater acting portfolios, to do the job for "Cock".

The play takes place at an MMA-like arena with no props and no name for everyone in the cast except for John, only superb acting from the four characters. According to Topper and Direk Rem, the absence of props and names for the other characters was made by Hartlett so that the audience could see the arbitrariness of the play. The crowd can design the stage and name the boyfriend, his dad, and the woman in their minds.

"Cock" is staged at the Whitespace in Makati from Friday to Sunday from March 7 to April 6 except on March 22 and March 30. Friday shows will begin at 9:00 PM, Saturday shows start at 8:00 PM, and Sunday shows will kick off at 4:00 PM. Aside from the regular schedule, there will be another showing of "Cock" on April 5 at 4:00 PM and on April 6 at 8:00 PM.

Tickets are available through TicketWorld (891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph) or at Red Turnip Theater (redturniptheater@gmail.com or http://www.facebook.com/RedTurnipTheater).