The libretto is based on Crowe's transcript of Melvyn Bragg's interview with the British artist Francis Bacon, filmed for The South Bank Show in 1985.
The opera was first performed in its final version on 8 August 2012 in London, and went on to win the Hilton Edwards Award in May 2013.
The libretto is derived from three portions of a documentary devoted to Francis Bacon which was filmed in 1985 for The South Bank Show.
In the episode, Melvin Bragg interviewed Bacon over a lengthy wine-fuelled lunch in a London restaurant.
Anna Picard in The Independent praised the work as having "the rare quality of making people laugh with the music as much as the words",[3] while Malcolm Jack in The Scotsman derided it as "silly, pretentious nonsense masquerading as experimental theatre.