Is there more nuance to Francis Bacon’s relationship with his lover and muse George Dyer than history suggests? The much-mythologised eight-year romance ended tragically in 1971. Dyer was found dead at the age of 36 in the couple’s Paris hotel room from an overdose. It was the night before a career retrospective of Bacon’s art at the Grand Palais.
Most famously depicted in the 1998 film Love is the Devil starring Derek Jacobi and Daniel Craig, the pair’s relationship has since been characterised as deeply troubled. We hear of violence, control, addiction, Bacon’s penchant for sadomasochism and a toxic codependency.
With his new play Buggers, opening at the Edinburgh Fringe this week, Alistair Hall suggests there were happier moments too. Hall, a Rada graduate whose queer coming-of-age monologue Declan was a Fringe hit in 2023, stars as Bacon alongside actor Peter Clements as Dyer.
It gives an updated perspective. Hall has been granted rare access by the Francis Bacon estate to unseen archive material pertaining to the pair’s relationship – photographs, correspondence, diaries – that offer a gentler, more intimate interpretation.
“All the toxicity is in the play, and we know that it ends tragically, so we can’t sugarcoat that,” Hall says. “But I’ve seen the nice moments. I’ve seen so many photos of this couple together on holiday, gardening. I’ve read letters from George to Bacon. There was a lot of tenderness. They really, really loved each other. I was interested in dismantling this couple from art history and making something more raw and real. We are playing the essence of these men, not caricatures.”
