Synopsis

A run-down bread factory in Hull, 1975. The air thick with flour dust and the relentless thump of industrial ovens.

Toast follows a night shift at a struggling bakery, where Blakey, the quick-tempered chargehand, leads a motley crew of workers through a crisis. When a jammed tin threatens to shut down production, the team must make a dangerous decision to save their jobs. At the heart of the story is Nellie, an aging mixer who’s spent his entire life in service to the bakery, now facing an uncertain future as modernisation looms.

Richard Bean’s gritty, darkly comic play explores the camaraderie and conflict that define working-class life in 1970s Britain. Through rapid-fire dialogue and vivid characterisation, Toast delves into themes of loyalty, masculinity, and the dignity of labour. As the workers risk life and limb to keep the ovens burning, Bean asks: in a world of relentless progress, what becomes of those left behind?