Bacon (NHB Modern Plays)

Sophie Swithinbank

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781788505369
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

It's Year 10's first day back at school. Mark is new and too scared to make friends. Darren is out of control and too scary to make friends. The two of them need each other – but neither would ever admit it.

Worlds apart, but more similar than they realise, the pair form a complex and manipulative relationship. And before they know it, they're embarking on a dangerous experiment that will alter the course of their lives.

Sophie Swithinbank's play Bacon is an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at masculinity, sexuality and power, through the dizzying lens of youth.

First developed on the Soho Theatre Writers' Lab, it won the Tony Craze Award in 2018, and was first produced at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2022, directed by Matthew Iliffe.

'A bleak but utterly compelling drama about the end of youth... a car-crash of a story, unfolding in a playground, that's both beautiful and devastating to watch... Swithinbank's writing is potent, with a sucker punch of an ending' - The Stage

'Riveting... Swithinbank's writing is razor-sharp' - Reviews Hub

'A sensitive and dramatic portrayal of insecure masculinity and power play... heart-stoppingly moving... a fascinating piece of theatre' - British Theatre Guide

One

Now.

MARK. This is my story

And I’ve never told anyone before so. Don’t interrupt. If that’s okay. And don’t ask questions because I don’t have any answers so I might just stop telling it.

And you won’t want that. (Little smile.) You won’t want me to stop once I’ve started.

The reason I’m telling you now yeah, is because

he’s here.

A bell tinkles, and a light reveals that DARREN has been there since the beginning, sitting at the highest point of the climbing frame.

He’s here now. In the café. And, well, it’s not just my story.

It’s his story too.

Two

Four years earlier.

St Michael’s School, Isleworth, London. Break time. MARK is in the canteen. DARREN is behind the sports hall. They are in Year 10.

MARK. It’s the first day of term and I think he sees me before I see him. In fact, he definitely sees me before I see him. Because in form time, when I look up, he’s
looking right at me. I / swear.		DARREN. Swear down my form group this year are shit man and the teacher’s a massive –
Can’t quite figure it out. He’s looking at me and it’s like he knows me. Do you ever get that?
MARK takes a slurp of juice.		DARREN looks around to check the coast is clear, then lights a cigarette.
		Finks she can control me innit, this new teacher, man.
I can feel his eyes on me. And that side of my face feels hot like the heat after a slap.
It’s my first day here. My mum moved me to this school because… at my old school I… yeah…
		She’s trying to get us all to fill out these fucking forms. These Good Behaviour Contracts and I’m like, I’m not signing anything. I want my lawyer. I walk straight out,
Mum has not quite clocked that this school is worse. She thinks it’s good coz it’s Catholic but actually it’s full of nutters who have probably got knives in their socks and guns in their pants.		clock / off for a quick cigarette. DARREN smokes.
MARK looks around the canteen, warily.
See just over there’s a group of lads. Catholic lads, watching porn.
Together. Right there. As if it’s some kind of group activity.		The teacher spots DARREN.
		Fuck’s sake. She appears right in front of me, all frizzy hair and flappy skirts. (As teacher; Northern Irish.) ‘How dare you walk out of my classroom Darren. I’ve just wasted twenty minutes of other students’ learning time looking for you.’
Porn is not a group activity. Is it?		DARREN takes another toke of his cigarette.
		(As teacher.) ‘Darren. This is school property. You can’t smoke on school property.’
		This is the ‘sports hall’. It stinks like feet and sweat. We use it to play benchball when it’s raining innit. Fucking benchball man. Literally not even a real sport.
		I’m not in the mood for this frizzy woman so I stub my fag out on the sports hall wall and say, I didn’t realise the school owned such shit property, sorry miss.
		And then she goes – (As teacher.) ‘You will be sorry, Darren.’ And she stalks away, lanyard swinging. I watch her go, she’s actually quite / hot.
Got Geography in twenty minutes and I want to finish colour-coding my population map of the world. The biggest countries on my population map are China, India and Bangladesh and I want to colour them / red.
		Read somewhere that the schools in this area have got the least money of like all the schools in London or some shit innit. So that explains it. That’s why all we have is a bench and a ball. Fucking bench/ball.
All the canteen tables are full and I decide to find a quiet place to finish my map. I try the chapel but it’s locked. And I think, aren’t churches and stuff supposed to be always open. To welcome i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Contents
• Original Production Details
• Bacon
• About the Author
• Copyright Information