Cock - Ambassadors Theatre

I hope the ‘stylised movement’ isn’t similar to what Hamish Pirie did in ‘Instructions for Correct Assembly’ and ‘Rare Earth Mettle’ God.

I saw this a few days ago and am still somewhat chewing over my thoughts about it. The performances from all, but especially Jonathan Bailey, were worth the price of admission alone. This felt wonderfully cast. I don’t tend to watch many plays because they’re difficult for me to focus on with my ADHD, but my mind didn’t wander at all watching this - I was completely engaged & the 1 hour 45 minutes sped by.

My only slight issue with this show is that - perhaps it’s a generational thing (with me being part of Gen Z) - but a lot of the conflict of the show already feels a bit dated. A huge amount of conversation and fuss about labels when they’re becoming much less relevant in younger circles. But I realise that’s probably just me being clouded by my own friendship circles & perhaps isn’t a widespread as I’m assuming the apathy towards self-identifiers is. The show possibly does this deliberately but I’m not very good at reading between the lines lol! I purchased the script and will definitely read it again.

That all being said, I still found it so entertaining & I really loved the complexity of the characters. Would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Also I sat in the back of the upper circle and had no vision issues, could see everything clearly; so don’t worry about the view if these are the only tickets you’re able to secure!

Saw it last night and I thought it was ok rather than anything stupendous: the character of John was such a wet weekend that by the end, after he’s asked what he is for the umpteenth time I was expecting him come back with a tribute to Les Dennis/Mavis Riley and go ‘well I don’t really know’ The stylised movement/dance moments didn’t add anything to this, I got the impression they were only put in to give the other actors time to get ready for their entrances.

The £20 seat was ok, I could see the actors all throughout the play without missing anything, but there is no justification whatsoever for charging over £200 to sit a couple of rows in front of where I was: the set is just some metal panels, a couple of benches and a revolving floor so it’s not like they had to build something on the scale of Moulin Rouge. The actual theatre itself, the programme says it’s one of the oldest surviving theatres in the West End and it looked like it, a tired out old dump to be honest, I doubt the money from this will go a refurb.

One final thought from me - wow that’s a high stage. I mean back in row F I couldn’t see their feet so I’d be surprised if those in the front row could see much of their legs at all. Which given Jonny Bailey spends a good portion of the play crawling around on the floor isn’t particularly ideal.

The Cock (La Polla) Lottery is actually the name of the main lottery in Chile.

Seen it? Rate it!

Was going to say you had naughtily changed the poll wording but the normal wording "after you have seen ..." Would almost be worst than what you have changed it to "how do you feel about..." So will give the benefit that your intentions were wholesome and blame the writer for giving it a shock factor name which judging by the rave reviews in the thread it didn't need

Just received this incredible email after my visit last night!

Thanks for the info this exists, easy to find with just searching on Ben and Andrews name and audio play so didn't need to type the title in which will save unwanted odd Google suggestions when next searching on the web.

Will listen to later and while as you say not the same being in the theatre it will give those of us not heading to London a taste of what the play is about and at zero cost
The intro also had the writer talking about its origin and explaining it's dubious title really is not what it seems.

Reviews are out and they're slightly less enthusiastic than people here, most critics seem to have given it 3 or 4 stars

Yes, but for the simple reason that a lot of the big guns will have gone to the final preview last night. Tonight's show started late and came down at 9 10. Lots of BRIDGERTON folk in the audience (no surprise there) and the ever-lovely Hugh Skinner. The play hasn't held up especially well (who cares whether John is gay, straight, or nothing?) but the actors are great, all 4 of them.

They won't be pleased with the press response -- comparatively few 4 stars (Standard and WOS), lots of 3 stars (Telegraph, Guardian, The Stage) and as expected 2 stars from the ever-cranky Clive Davis in The Times.