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Bacon
Finborough Theatre
MY FIRST visit to the Finborough Theatre was to see a show called Fog. It was one of the first times I saw a production that really connected with me and my experiences. Now, exactly a decade on, comes another show which finds the pulse of modern Britain in alarming fashion.
Darren (William Robinson) and Mark (Corey Montague-Sholay) have just begun Year 10 at St Michael’s School in Isleworth. An area where, as Darren describes, the schools “have got the least money of like all the schools in London or some shit innit.”
It’s Mark’s first day after his mother has moved him, having been bullied at his previous school, and he’s flabbergasted by the kids watching porn in the dinner hall.
They couldn’t be further apart in their demeanours or attitudes. Darren is all swaggering snarl while Mark nervously navigates his new corridors with distinct unease. The two counter narratives collide cleverly and somehow their common insecurities (and birthdays) manage to draw them together into what is more than a friendship but certainly not a relationship.
Now, four years on from the abrupt end of their disconcerting dalliance and Mark is working in a café when Darren walks in. While he’s griddling the bacon for the butty that Darren has just ordered, the feelings that have engulfed his life since they last met start to sizzle and he must decide whether he can, or wants to, forgive the abuse he suffered.
It is one of many touching moments in Sophie Swithinbank’s latest work, which strikes a tricky balance between the awkward hilarity of teenage life and the trauma that adolescent experiences can have on our whole lives.
It is acted with real poise and beauty by Montague-Sholay and Robinson who both capture the essence of insecurity. Managing Natalie Johnson’s see-sawing set is one of many hurdles they overcome as it provides a perfect metaphor for their undulating positions of power.
With several brilliant new shows having opened already this year, 2022 is shaping up to be an astounding year for new writing and it’s great that the Finborough is at the heart of it.
Runs until March 26. Box Office: finboroughtheatre.co.uk
