Bacon ★★★★★

Some plays succeed because they have an insightful, beautifully-written script. Other plays impress because they offer impassioned performances by their actors. Sometimes a drama hits home because the direction and staging help to illuminate the play’s themes. Bacon is one of those rare works which triumphs in all three areas.

The central story, told in retrospect, focusses on two Year 10 schoolboys. Mark (Corey Montague-Sholay) is the new boy at a London Catholic school. He’s polite, geeky and studious. Darren (William Robinson) on the other hand is laddish, aggressive and no stranger to detentions and even school suspensions. In their own way, each is as friendless and isolated as the other. Through an unspoken recognition of this, their initial victim-and-bully relationship quickly evolves and they become the unlikeliest of mates.

Natalie Johnson‘s stark set is dominated by an imposing see-saw which perfectly symbolises many of the play’s themes. It represents the ever-shifting power balance between the two lads. But it also reflects how easy one thing can tip into another thing with the tiniest change. The carefreeness of youth can tip into a lack of care. There’s a fine line between the boys’ banter and cruelty. And Sophie Swithinbank‘s masterful script ensures that the audience’s perspective on the pair constantly pivots. It’s easy to find yourself laughing out loud along with Darren’s ‘bad boy’ bravado before catching a glimpse of his unpredictable potential for violence not far from the surface.

While the play’s title refers to a roll in the school canteen offered as gesture of friendship, the opening, ominous sound in the darkness of bacon sizzling in a pan is more reflective of director, Matthew Iliffe‘s approach to the piece. He slowly turns up the heat on the drama throughout. By the point where Swithinbank’s script turns to the penumbra of sexual exploration within friendships, the sense of danger is palpable. As the boys are forced closer within the increasing claustrophobia of the see-saw, they both struggle to admit “I’ve seen you looking at me”. The struggle for them to understand and articulate their identities, in the face of the toxic masculinity they have been surrounded with, will make victims of them both.

The intensity of the performances by both actors is staggering. Montague-Sholay invests Mark with such a believable, goofy innocence, it pays dividends when we see the traumatic change in his character’s older self. Robinson’s ability to traverse Darren’s competing angst and anger, his aggression and vulnerability, his need for love and his self-loathing, is breathtaking. His note-perfect portrayal of all those combustible forces within his character mark him out as a major acting force of the future. You will be hard-pressed to find more credible, evocative acting performances this Fringe.

Bacon is an exhilarating, provocative, timely questioning how young men can learn to love and accept themselves in the face of such toxic expectations of contemporary masculinity. A devastating, stomach-wrenching production that will stay with you long after the show finishes.