Marianne Elliot must have had a mini heart-attack last night, Saturday 5 March 2022, only matched by Taron’s fainting spell.
The first preview of her revival of COCK, Mike Bartlett’s sharp and witty drama at the Ambassadors Theatre starring Rocketman’s Taron Egerton and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, was mired in drama – and not part of the play.
The producers released the following statement after the show, so we’ll let that do the talking: “During this evening’s first preview of Mike Bartlett’s play Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre, Taron Egerton fainted towards the end of the performance. A doctor who was in the audience attended to Taron immediately after the incident, and whilst he felt fine, it was decided that Taron’s understudy, Joel Harper-Jackson would continue in the role to complete the performance”.
In an Instagram Story today, Egerton said that apart from a “bruised ego” he was okay and thanked the “lovely” Harper-Jackson for stepping in: “As some of you may have heard, I passed out during the first performance of COCK last night. I am completely fine. Slightly sore neck and a bruised ego but I’m fine. I’ve decided to put a positive spin on it and I would appreciate it if anyone who was in the theatre last night just said that I gave such a committed, electrifying performance that my body couldn’t handle it and checked out.”
“That being said, apparently you’re meant to actually do the full show and not just three quarters of it. So I’ll be back with a vengeance tomorrow night. Thank you to the amazing team at the theatre and my wonderful cast mates for being so lovely. But mainly I want to say thanks to Joel Harper Jackson who stepped in to do the last bit of the play. Joel is an amazing actor and a lovely person. Thank you Joel.”
The reason for the fainting is unknown, and he is expected to appear at the next scheduled performance tomorrow, Monday 7 March. And we wish him well.
And congrats to Joel Harper-Jackson for stepping in to the breach. Albeit for the last 15 mins!
Book tickets to COCK at the Ambassadors Theatre in London
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