[Travis Mark Sheppard] (Goddard) is a sweet-natured amateur boxer whose imminent bout in a small provincial town in the south of England will determine if he makes it to professional standing. His "mate" Jacko (Sheppard) is deeply conflicted about matters he hesitates to discuss. Chief among them are reports that Travis gets aroused during his boxing clinches (which makes him sexually suspect)-and his own violent reaction to any number of ramifications stemming from that unsettling possibility.

Hayes has staged "Cock & Bull" with a boxer's footwork and agility, and the intimacy that a locker room invites. But under the free-wheeling banter lies some precision work. As the worm turns in the second act when Jacko confesses to the murder of several men and confronts Travis with his own fears and revulsions, layer upon layer of nuances come peeling off the mutable, complex characters.

PHOTO: Hayes on the "Express" set. / Columbia; PHOTO: Hayes the director in 1992. / Fountainhead Theatre; PHOTO: [Trevor Goddard], left, Mark Sheppard in "Cock & Bull" at Fountainhead: Male bonding, meaning of friendship.; PHOTO: COLOR, (Orange County Edition) Trevor Goddard, left, Mark Sheppard in "Cock & Bull" at Fountainhead: Male bonding, meaning of friendship. / J. ALBERT DIAZ / Los Angeles Times