Following an acclaimed London run last year, and ahead of a stint at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Sophie Swithinbank’s hard hitting play, Bacon, previews at Riverside Studios.
This gut-wrenching two-hander begins four years after an event that changed two lives forever. When Darren steps into the cafe where Mark works, the pair are transported back to Year 10 and Mark’s first day at a below average Catholic school.
If this was the Inbetweeners, dog loving Mark would be Will. Studious, well dressed in school blazer, and shocked that fellow teens are watching porn together on their phones in the canteen. By contrast, Darren is a more damaged Jay, boasting about a non-existent sex life and imaginary holidays to Barbados. There are deeper issues lurking for Darren though, his father beats him and he comes to school hungry and in dirty clothes.
In the expertly constructed Bacon, Swithinbank keeps the audience guessing, blurring the lines between a coming of age story, a romantic comedy and a tale of devastating trauma. This is a play with trigger warnings, and rightly so, as Mark and Darren’s relationship turns ever more toxic.
For very different reasons, each of the protagonists are lonely, seeking comfort and friendship from someone, anyone. As the characters talk to the audience (who else have they got to talk to?) it’s clear the playwright has given much thought to the theme of isolation. It’s truly heartbreaking.
But there are many lighter moments too, and many laughs garnered from a unique kind of adolescent odd couple comedy. Combining the ideas of loneliness and opposites attract, Natalie Johnson’s set features only a concrete see-saw. Literally, it represents the bare playground and reminds us Mark and Darren are schoolboys. But on a deeper level it highlights the ever-changing balance of power between the two.
Matthew Iliffe’s production comes with a great deal of physicality, the two actors rarely still as each tell their story, but as Mark reminds us this is his story, and Ryan Joseph Stafford’s stunning lighting design further accentuates the gulf between the two.
Corey Montague-Sholay and William Robinson give sizzling and mesmerising performances as Mark and Darren. The chemistry between the pair is so electrifying that when one, or both, are hurt, we all feel it too.
Bacon can be a difficult watch at times; there’s no easy way to tell a story like this, yet Swithinbank’s script has the meat for the audience to really chew over. Iliffe’s direction, and two terrific central performances, make this an unmissable piece of theatre.
Bacon runs at Summerhall as part of Edinburgh Fringe from 2nd – 27th August 2023.
