When smart kid Mark starts at a rough school, the last thing he expects is to buddy up with Darren, a tough-talking bully from a damaged background. Opposites attract, however, as sparring eventually spills over into acts of sex and violence that go way beyond the growing pains of adolescent angst. When the pair are reunited when the old school tie has long been discarded, the scars still linger for both of them.
 

Sophie Swithinbank’s blistering two-hander explores the roots of psychosexual pain in a macho world by way of a script shot through with street-smart exchanges that ricochet between the two boys in a manner which recalls those two-fisted barbs of Barrie Keeffe, who explored classroom politics in works such as his 1977 TV play, Gotcha. Things have moved on considerably since then, of course, and with no grown-ups on stage in Matthew Iliffe’s production for HFH, things take an infinitely darker turn.

Corey Montague-Sholay as Mark and William Robinson as Darren give a pair of firecracker performances as the boys spar their way to self-destruction astride Natalie Johnson’s part see-saw, part meat-slab set. Developed through Soho Theatre’s Writers Lab, and first seen at the tiny Finborough Theatre, London, Swithinbank has captured a stylised snapshot of young manhood that properly sizzles.

Bacon, Summerhall, until 27 August, 3.30pm.