Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...What makes "Cock" so distinctive, aside from its title, is that John's emotional crisis - and, since he is sleeping both with a man ("M," Jake Szczepaniak) and a woman ("W," Eleni Pappageorge), his internal conundrum has a certain urgency when it comes to the need for resolution - is staged in primal fashion. The designer, Katie-Bell Springmann, has not so much built a set as engineered an entire new mini-arena inside this flexible old space, replete with a faux, sawdusty gravel floor (the kind on which feathered cocks might fight), metal gates and (most impressive of all) rows of bespoke wooden seating from which an audience of about 100 can peer down at the action."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...If you enter Profiles Theatre these days, where British playwright Michael Bartlett’s provocatively titled “Cock,” is receiving a blistering Midwest premiere, you will find yourself in a classic cockpit arena, with a wood chip-covered central floor encircled by corrugated steel fencing, and hard seats (cushions provided) that instantly turn you into a spectator."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...They all get their licks in during scenes punctuated--like rounds in a boxing match--by the ding of a bell. Surrounded, as the girlfriend says, by a "halo of disorganization," John can be an infuriatingly irresolute hero. And yet his very shiftiness opens the way to engrossing struggles and sharp truths. Though director Darrell Cox maintains an odd, oddly distracting prudishness when it comes to the (not quite) nude scenes in this sexually charged show, his cast hold nothing back."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...This is obviously a topic for lengthier discussion than can be afforded by the 75 minutes of Profiles Theatre's production. Fortunately, Darrell W. Cox has drilled his four actors to olympic-level physical and verbal agility, so that even when the dialogue flies at blizzard density, there's never a misstep or mumble. This is important, since major sex scenes are rendered exclusively in spoken-word discourse, keeping with the absence of realistic props. The cast is uniformly excellent, but look for this to be a breakout play for Jake Szczepaniak, whose M projects a manic excitability bordering on hysteria, his voice shooting up into falsetto range under duress in a manner eliciting our sympathy even as it explains John's fancy straying toward more placid company."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Profiles in general and Cox in particular (both as actor and director) are known for their facility with realism and naturalism. Cox uses his skill in a new way by heightening the reality, taking realistic situations and conversations but upping the volume and intensity to suit the play's central concept. Cock is a great piece for this company and an occasion to take what they do well and, if another avian analogy can be forgiven, spread their wings a little."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Director Darrell W. Cox begins his one-act with a ringing bell, a burst of light and his actors poised to attack. To signify additional scenes, the lights dim before blazing again and we hear gates dropping, indicating another battle’s about to begin. With Sammi Grant’s exhaustive British dialect work on display, Mr. Cox’s must-see production about deciding to decide is sharp, sexy, surprisingly funny and simply breathtaking."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...All four actors are superb. (Larry Neumann Jr. shows up as M’s aggressively supportive father, F, in the final sequence, when the entire group gathers for a dramatically convenient but terribly unlikely dinner party.) M’s brittle bitchiness, pointedly played by Szczepaniak, masks deep insecurity and hurt over his betrayal by John; Pappageorge succeeds at the difficult task of making W’s dogged pursuit of a gay man seem natural."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...The punning title-Cock-is a heavy clue on what to expect. From the moment you enter, you know you won't confuse this 80-minute tour de theatre with anything else. Profiles Theatre's auditorium has been transformed into a cock-fighting amphitheater: Three rows of unpainted wooden bleachers hang above a "cock pit," one designed for human combatants, filled with wood chips and surrounded by corrugated aluminum siding. Voyeuristic to a fault, set designer Katie-Bell Sprigmann's literal pit of iniquity seems more suitable to a Mexican crime scene or a WWF cage fight. It fits the show like a boxing glove."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Cock is a provocative take on sexual identity filled with laughs, sexy situations and characters that will get you rooting for John. It is a different take on sexual identity that more folks face than we know. The battle rages..."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...This all sounds like quite serious business and given what is at stake for the characters, it is. However, the terrific script is full of big laughs and spot on hysterical metaphors. If I was to have one small quibble with the piece as a whole, it would be the break neck pace that became overwhelming late in the proceedings. But at a runtime of only eighty minutes this is a meager objection. Kudos must be given to the rest of the production team as well including, Mike Durst and Claire Chrzan’s lighting design achievement; Jeffery Levin’s sound design; Kaylie Honkala’s stage management and Raquel Adorno’s character enhancing costume design. Profiles Theatre has given us a reason to leave our homes and engage in our own battle, of fighting the Chicago Winter.
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...“Cock” may not be for all tastes with its profanity and up-front sensuality, but it’s the kind of play, and staging, that makes the Profiles the theater of choice for contemporary and risky productions. We know Larry Neumann Jr. is a great actor but the other three are all revelations, further testimony to the inexhaustible depth of the Chicagoland acting pool. “Cock” operates in familiar contemporary territory with its examination of sexual identity and sexual confusion, but rarely do we witness the topic propelled by such energy and passion and wit."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...The theater in the round setting was surprising at first, but then the gladiator style pit made sense, both creatively, as well as logistically. The action of the play centers around a fighting ring that awaits the ding of the start bell. The audience becomes oriented to the bell almost in a Pavlovian response, awaiting the drama to unfold in a manner that in many ways relates to what they have or will experience in their own relationships. The navigation of the play is authentic, and the emotions of the actors are at times awkwardly thick. The play leaves a lasting impact of understanding that identity swinging like a pendulum is an easier pill for some to swallow, but I find myself still smiling and blushing."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...Brilliantly staged in a cockfighting ring (designed with appropriate grit by Katie-Bell Springmann), Cock uses the tight space to create incredible intimacy between the characters, and the close proximity of the actors means that when the claws come out, people get cut deep."
