By Virginia Schneider
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 2/13/25
To quote award-winning British playwright Sophie Swithinbank, “Bacon is about what happens when teenagers learn to bully and humiliate…before they learn to love and accept themselves….it questions whether we can do better to guide teenagers through the process of becoming adults.” To understand, you simply must go see Bacon for yourself. To say any more would be to deny oneself the amazing opportunity to see an achingly beautiful dramatization of today’s adolescents. For Bacon deftly unravels in exquisite movement and language a frequent reality of youth culture.
The 80-minute play explores the intoxicating and toxic relationship between two school boys Mark (Wesley Guimaraes) and Darren (Jack Lancaster) from opposite sides of life — and love–desperate for affection and at a loss as to how to express themselves. As they struggle to navigate growing into adulthood their unique traits make them vulnerable and addicted, a dark combination that never gels. Both Guimaraes and Lancaster give bravura, daring, energetic and bold performances each worthy of a Tony Award.
Swithinbank’s crisp, rollicking, sometimes overlapping dialogue crackles with vivacity as the end of one character’s sentence often nails atop the beginning of the other boy’s, swaying like a swing. It’s hip, modern, deftly comic and gut-wrenching. She even creates darling details of an adolescent’s life such as their only trustworthy love—that of pets. In this case it’s Barney the dog and Mac & Cheese the mice.
Rogue’s Michael Matthews has meticulously directed with clockwork precision this engaging two-hander, capturing innocence and raw intimacy. The actors practically dance in whirling motion, simmering with dangerous and daring feelings. In previous productions the entire play was fittingly performed on a see-saw. Matthews’ excellent staging gives us a precarious, rolling story as it does indeed see-saw, from present to past events and back again. The blocking fills the intimate space with intense physicality and visceral energy, communicating the moods of our two leads.
Christopher Moscatiello’s seamless sound design is interwoven with the mindset and actions of our characters, illuminating a school yard, coffee shop, barking dogs, a passing deer, and home life.
Swithinbank is a multi-award-winning playwright and screenwriter, recipient of the 2024 Sonia Friedman Prize for Best Play (Beans). Bacon has won numerous awards including four Off West End Awards (London) and is in development with NBC Universal.
Rogue Machine’s Bacon by Sophie Swithinbank, at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (between N. Spaulding Ave and N. Stanley Ave.) Runs February 14 through March 30th.
For tickets: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/bacon