5th International Monodrama Festival THESPIS
10 to 17 November 2006 Kiel GERMANY

Thursday, November 16 | 20:30 | Pumpe


BACON
performed by Pip Utton (Great Britain)

written by Pip Utton and Jeremy Towler

directed by Geoff Bullen


The visitors of THESPIS 2003 may still remember Pip Utton's ”Adolf” - the unsettling evening with Hitler. This time Utton chose to become Francis Bacon - that extravagant painter who claimed that he was as much at home in the gutter as at the Ritz. Described by critics as the greatest British painter since Turner and by Margaret Thatcher as ”that dreadful man who paints those horrible pictures”, Bacon remains one of the most challenging and controversial artists of all time. He could spend his mornings painting, his afternoons and evenings drinking champagne and eating, and his nights roaming around Soho. His lifestyle full of alcohol, gambling and homosexual promiscuity has created an iconic enigma. His paintings have the power to horrify, excite, disgust, revolt and haunt. It is impossible not to react to his work.

”Life is just a game played out for no reason, so there is no need one shouldn't try to achieve everything one wants. (...) The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It's a little like making love, the physical act of love. (...) The result is often disappointing but the process is highly exciting.” - Francis Bacon

After several years in amateur dramatics, Pip Utton turned professional in 1996. He has since played a variety of roles, won several awards for his performance and wrote half a dozen successful solo shows with which he toured widely - in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore and half of Europe.


Language: English
Length: 90 minutes

Kindly supported by British Council

German premiere

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