Or is John instead the one being manipulated by those who desire him? “That’s the most generous way into the character,” Bailey says.
It’s a talky play, but Bailey gives a muscular performance, embodying John’s inner turmoil as someone who’s so addicted to being desired that he ends up becoming kind of a-well, it’s in the title. He stars as John, a man in a long-term gay relationship who sleeps with a woman, causing a messy love triangle. That’s the name of the play, written by Mike Bartlett, that Bailey, 34, headlines now on the West End, in a sparse, spiky production directed by two-time Tony winner Marianne Elliott. A woman at a nearby table looks up, possibly scandalized. “ Cock!” Bailey says brightly, over lunch on a sunny London afternoon. He chose something that he knew would be a challenge. After starring in the second season of Bridgerton-the lush period drama that has become Netflix’s most watched English-language series ever-the actor Jonathan Bailey could have done anything.
