Buggers

'Somewhere beneath the diabolical tendencies of our love, there is another version of this. Of us.' London, 1963. When painter Francis Bacon meets petty criminal George Dyer, a hedonistic, sexually charged union takes hold. But as cracks in George's mental health begin to appear, and Francis's ego becomes volcanic, their passionate and sadomasochistic relationship descends into a black hole that only one of them will survive. Fearless and ferocious, Buggers is a haunting psychodrama which tracks the lovers' turbulent relationship from its lustful beginning to its shattering end. Alistair Hall's play premiered at Pleasance during the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, directed by Alice Wordsworth and produced by Patrick Bone Productions in association with Pleasance.