Pip Utton

Written by Pip Utton and Jeremy Towler.
Directed by Geoff Bullen.
With Pip Utton as Francis Bacon.

'Welcome to the concentration of camp.' – Francis Bacon

'Life is just a game played out for no reason, so there is no need one shouldn’t try to achieve everything one wants. After all, life is nothing but a series of sensations. So one may as well try and make oneself extraordinary, extraordinary and brilliant, even if it means becoming a brilliant fool like me and having the kind of disastrous life that I have had'. – Francis Bacon

Described by critics as the greatest British painter since Turner and by Margaret Thatcher as ‘that dreadful man who paints those horrible pictures’, Francis Bacon remains one of the most challenging and controversial artists of all time. Bacon’s paintings have the power to horrify, excite, disgust, revolt and haunt. It is impossible not to react to his work.

It was probably not only the paintings that so distressed Mrs Thatcher but the man himself. Francis Bacon could spend his mornings painting, his afternoons and evenings drinking champagne and eating, and his nights roaming around Soho dressed in fishnet stockings and a long leather coat looking for ‘rough trade’. His lifestyle full of alcohol, gambling and homosexual promiscuity has created an iconic enigma.

Contains swearing and sexual references.
Suitable for ages 16 and over.