Bacon - Finborough Theatre

Mountford hits the nail on the head with her description of Darren, the kid being raised by his drug-addicted and unloving father, as "a young man who has long learnt to overlay insecurity with performatively macho aggression".

Insecurity, is so often the driving force behind what, elsewhere on this site, I see others calling "toxic masculinity". In Darren's case, the inner tension between a need to be like other lads and his repressed homosexuality is key. The absence of a loving home environment means he hasn't the toolset to cope.

Mark, by contrast, is smart, motivated and loved. Black Mark has been dealt the easier hand in life than white Darren.

And so it is, that Darren, despite his behaviour, is not entirely loathesome, and Mark forms a kind of friendship with Darren.

The ending, which is also the beginning as the story is told in flashback, felt inconclusive: Mark makes a choice, but I had doubts he would stick to his decision for long.

I was not a fan of the giant seesaw as set; it was too unsubtle as a metaphor, and quite distracting when in use.

The direction and performances were superb however.

Four stars.

One act: 15:05-16:16

Although the run has now finished, I thought this was excellent. Intense performances particularly when the two characters mirrored each other in overlapping scenes, intelligently staged (well, the seesaw was a bit obvious but effective) and thought provoking. 4 stars +.

First time at the Finborough. Very low key venue - only 50 in almost bare studio and the pub below was closed.

Has an Edinburgh fringe run as well

And playing at Bitsize Riverside Stuidos Hammersmith in June

riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/bacon-73701/

Really good to see this having a life.