Sophie Swithinbank is the writer of the multi-award-winning production of Bacon which will return this summer to Edinburgh Fringe at Summerhall.
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.
Sophie Swithinbank won the 2023 Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award for Bacon. 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.
More information can be found here
Bacon is returning for a run at Edinburgh Fringe, how would you describe the play?
BACON is a bouncy journey of light and shade, that follows the story of two teenage boys, into adulthood. It is about love, trust, humiliation, dependence and growing up. The play feels like a threatening and too-fast dance, with Mark and Darren constantly balancing on the edge of safety and danger, forgiveness and punishment.
What first inspired you to write it?
BACON is based on real events. The two central characters were wrought from a real act of bullying; a humiliating display of sexual power. When I witnessed this incident, I was looking after a seven-year-old boy. I wondered whether he might learn and copy that behaviour, which led me to explore learned masculine behaviours. In-so-doing, other, deeper ideas attached themselves to BACON, most notably an intense and manipulative relationship I had at school. It was a dangerously exciting time, during which we pushed the boundaries of our sexualities. BACON is a love story and, and it is love, in all its complex guises, that has driven this story, in its teenage lack of perspective. I wanted the play to have a teenage tunnel vision sense that little else exists outside of their relationship.
Why do you think this kind of story isn’t explored on stage more often?
I think this kind of story is not often explored because people feel concerned about teenage behaviour and they feel concerned about adult behaviour, but connecting those two things feels dangerous. It slips through the net of mainstream stories. I think that it is painful, as adults, to recognise that all the throw-away things that happened in our teenage years could still be affecting us today.
I also think the question of forgiveness in the face of sexual violence is a thorny one, a contentious and dangerous one, and therefore, plays like this do not get written, or programmed very often. For me, it feels vitally important for the investigation of teen violence, that so many venues have said yes to programming this play (we have a further leg of our UK tour planned for spring 2024, with prospective venues being HOME Manchester, Traverse and Arcola).
Were you surprised by the success of the play when it ran at the Finborough?
I know that people always say yes to this question, so maybe I should just say yes. But the honest answer is that the process of writing BACON was so physical and addictive, that I knew it would feel addictive to an audience too. This is not because I think I am brilliant. I am not brilliant, and I still have so much to learn about this craft and this industry. But there are (rare) times as a writer when you know you’ve written something good. It feels a bit like falling in love for the first time.
Whenever I was writing the play, it tingled through my body, it felt like jumping off a cliff, it felt like if I stepped away from it, or ignored it, or dropped it, it would shatter. And whenever I wasn’t writing it (e.g. at work), I missed Mark and Darren, and all I wanted to do was get to know them better. So, in complete candid transparency, I was not surprised that the play worked on stage. The tingly feeling of writing it follow us all the way through the rehearsal process, through Matthew, through William, through Corey, and stayed with us right into opening night, and onwards.
What’s it been like working with director Matthew Iliffe?
Matthew has approached the play with love, dedication and attention to a forensic level of detail that I have never seen in a rehearsal room, before or since. In my first meeting with Matthew, I could see that the play had touched him deeply. There were many things stacked against him: he was very young, I had never seen any of his work, and I had never worked with a male director.
But I strongly sensed that he had a deep, acute and empathetic understanding of the play, which I hadn’t sensed in any other directors I had met with. Handing a play over to a director is a scary thing to do, but with Matthew, I have always felt the play is being held and loved, and that is really important to me. Matthew leads the rehearsal room in a generous, and conscientious way, leaving space for myself and the actors to think creatively around the scenes, and make offers, where offers are needed.
What are you most looking forward to about taking this play to Edinburgh fringe?
Bacon was programmed by Soho Theatre at Pleasance for Edinburgh Fringe 2020, but due to the pandemic, the festival was cancelled. To be finally able to take the show to the fringe feels special! The pandemic threw my career (and the careers of millions of other artists) into disarray, so this moment is affirming for me, I feel I am fully able to regain control of all that was lost during the dark time of theatres going dark. This will be my Edinburgh Fringe debut and I am so excited to be part of the buzz. I’ll be coming up to see the previews of the show.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Bacon?
I would say that you’re in for a laugh and maybe a cry and lots of things in-between. I would also say that the show is important, and if you’re thinking of booking, go ahead and book. At the heart of it, BACON questions whether we can do better to guide teenagers through the process of becoming adults. It is a study of the journey from boy to man, and why so often, boys fail to make it there. I think a lot of people can find their own truths in this show.
