The History of the Devil

The History of the Devil was written in the early 1980s, and published in 1995 as part of a collection of plays called Incarnations. Clive Barker never intended the play to be published, originally writing it to be developed and performed by his own theatre, The Dog Company, with himself as director. Since 1995, the play has been performed all around the world, often resulting in banned productions in places that deemed the content "too blasphemous". This attention helped launch the audacious script into notoriety often playing to sold-out houses. According to Clive Barker, The History of the Devil is a story best described as "John Milton meets John Grisham."