The Studio at The Pound was the perfect intimate venue for this one-man bravura performance by Pip Utton as the artist Francis Bacon, described by Margaret Thatcher as “that dreadful man who paints those horrible pictures”. Mr Utton’s performance took us inside the devastatingly complex mind of possibly the most controversial artist of the 20th century. He was funny, vulgar, vulnerable, cruel and charming. He challenged the audience with his views on art, love, sex and morality. The language was often profane, but that was Bacon. The set was a simple triptych of panels in which the light and colour was constantly subtly changing. Mr Utton held his audience enthralled.