Award-winning British playwright Sophie Swithinbank’s Bacon is a taut two-hander, a wringing, stinging sexploration of the fraught relationship between two troubled youths, Mark (Wesley Guimarães) and Darren (Jack Lancaster), set in London. Both are what used to be called, in social worker parlance, “products of broken homes.” Mark, who is being raised by his immigrant mother, is of Brazilian background. Darren lives—no, resides is a better word—with his abusive, unemployed, drink-prone father, who is originally from Ireland.
The two teens meet in what is the American equivalent of high school during their sophomore year. Whereas Mark seems shy and reclusive, Darren exudes what appears, at first glance, to be false bravado. But beneath the surface of his brash braggadocio about his derring-do in and out of bed with the lasses is not only fear but, on a much deeper level, uncertainty about his sexuality.
From the minute Mark and Darren appear onstage together, there is a sexual frisson making one want to shout, “Hey, go get a room, you two.” But as Swithinbank artfully makes clear, it’s not as simple as that. Not only must the two students navigate the interracial parameters of their interactions, but more importantly, come to grips with their sexuality within the context of a society where same-sex relationships are tabu, still “the love that dare not say its name,” as Irish playwright Oscar Wilde observed more than a century ago.
The 80-minute drama, occasionally punctuated by humor, is set among other places, at their school, a park, the characters’ homes, and a café where Mark works, hence Bacon’s title (plus the intent that this one-acter “sizzles”). Before the proverbial curtain rises in Rogue Machine’s upstairs 50-seat-or-so Henry Murray Stage, Guimarães can be seen tending to coffeehouse accouterments – a clever touch.
Mark and Darren’s “yes/no” tense dance reminded me of two songs: The British Punk rockers The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and, on a gentler note, the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?.” Their conflicted relationship, which some ticket buyers may find tedious, devolves into bullying, especially complicated by an overlay of machismo that the abused Darren is burdened with.
In press notes, Ms. Swithinbank says, “Bacon is about what happens when teenagers learn to bully and humiliate each other before they learn to love and accept themselves. The two central characters, Mark and Darren, were born from an act of bullying I witnessed, which led me to explore the idea of learned negative behaviors. I began to connect the bullying incident to an intense and semi-toxic relationship I had experienced growing up. It was a confusing, dangerously exciting time. The play also explores the binaries of class in relation to sexuality and how confidence and acceptance can be closely related to social standing, from family to family. Bacon is a relationship drama for the modern age.”
The London-based Ms. Swithinbank, who has been flown out to Hollywood to help bring home the West Coast premiere of Bacon, has recently won the Sonia Friedman Productions prize. Bacon had its world premiere at the Finborough Theater in 2022 and won the London Pub Theatre Award for Best Production Premiere plus Four Off West End Awards, among this promising bard’s many accolades.
Director Michael Matthews elicits searing performances from his actors, who perform yeoman’s work. Christopher Moscatiello’s subtle sound design enhances the production. Fight choreographer Jen Albert and intimacy director Joy DeMichelle jointly have their hands full in this drama about whether to make love or to make war. Stephen Gifford’s effective production design on a mostly bare stage has the thesps frequently rearranging the set by moving a table and benches back and forth, therefore transfiguring the space and signaling scene and mood changes. Graphic designer Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer’s playbill in the form of a menu is a cute idea. Jenny Flack Murals exudes the sense of a café with apropos scenic painting in this one-act play presented with no intermissions.
As in Rogue Machine’s other drama concurrently playing downstairs on the mainstage of the Matrix Theatre, Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, human beings are confronted by seemingly insurmountable challenges. Can people prevail over their circumstances, or are they doomed to be petrified, paralyzed by the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune? It is often said that “drama is conflict,” but methinks there’s a mo’ bettah definition: “Drama is the resolution of conflict.” I prefer characters who decide whether or not to stay or go and do indeed make up their minds. Does Mark or Darren ever overcome their predicaments and transcend their psychological quicksand in this tale of toxic masculinity—or better yet, “mask-ulinity”?
Bacon is not for children. The play is appropriate for mature 16-year-olds and up interested in an insightful exploration of sensitive subject matter.
The play can be seen at 8:00 p.m. on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays and 3:00 p.m. on Sundays through March 9 at the Matrix Theatre upstairs in The Henry Murray Stage. Tickets can be purchased here.
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