HFH Productions has announced the full cast and creative team for the multi-award-winning production of Bacon by Sophie Swithinbank which will return this summer. The production will play at London’s Riverside Studios from 18-29 July, this year’s Edinburgh Fringe at Summerhall from 2-27 August (Press Night: 4th August) and Bristol Old Vic from 12-16 September.
Winner of the Tony Craze Award, Bacon is an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at masculinity, sexuality, and power, through the dizzying lens of youth. Matthew Iliffe (Breeding – King’s Head Theatre), who received the Off West End Award for Best Director for the play’s extended critically acclaimed debut at London’s Finborough Theatre, will return to helm the production.
It’s Year 10’s first day back at school. Mark is new and too scared to make friends; Darren is out of control and too scary to make friends. The two of them need each other – but neither would ever admit it.
Corey Montague-Sholay (Wendy and Peter Pan – Leeds Playhouse, The Whip, King John – RSC) and William Robinson (Britannicus – Lyric Hammersmith, Julius Caesar – RSC) will reprise their Off West End Award-winning performances as Mark and Darren respectively.
Joining Iliffe on the creative team are Natalie Johnson (Rupture – West End Women and Girls, John & Jen – Southwark Playhouse) as Set and Costume Designer, Ryan Joseph Stafford (Weight of It – New York City Center, To Start With – Sadler’s Wells) as Lighting Designer, Mwen (Wreckage – Harlow Playhouse, Edinburgh Fringe & Turbine Theatre, Who’s Holiday! – HOME & Southwark Playhouse) as Sound Designer, Jess Tucker Boyd (Hakawatis – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, Nothing in a Butterfly – Omnibus Theatre) as Movement Director, Chloe Stally-Gibson as Production Manager and Ella Godbold-Holmes as Stage Manager.
Swithinbank, who won the 2023 Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award for Bacon, said of the return, “the murky and grey area of sexual exploration within friendships does not get wide representation on stage, because it is not a love story, and therefore has no specific genre. But during the run at Finborough Theatre, many people spoke to me directly about how much they connected with the story, and saw themselves in it. I am so thrilled that HFH Productions is re-mounting Bacon for the 2023 UK tour as it feels urgent and essential to share this story with audience members across the country.”
For further information on Bacon: https://everything-theatre.co.uk/2022/03/feature-sophie-swithinbank-on-writing-bacon/
