'Hell To Pay' Tour Comes to UW April 9

“The Beast With Three Backs” troupe will present its critically acclaimed piece "Hell To Pay" April 9-10 at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Studio Theatre.

This original adaptation of Shel Silverstein’s “The Devil and Billy Markham” features UW Department of Theatre and Dance alumnus Billy Higgins. The production, part of a university performance and teaching tour, has been called “raunchy, beautiful, poignant, funny and definitely not for kids.”

Tickets cost $7 per person. For tickets and information, call (307) 766-6666, visit www.uwyo.edu/finearts, the Wyoming Union information desk or the Performing Arts box office.

“The Beast With Three Backs” troupe is composed of students from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, Calif. The company was formed in 2013, and its adaptation of “The Devil and Billy Markham” marks its first foray into the world of touring a production.

The troupe’s pedigree from the Dell'Arte School is evident in its surreal dance-like theatrical performance. According to the tour information, the audience is in for a “wicked ride from the dive bars of Nashville to the gates of perdition as Markham, a lonely compulsive gambler, slugs it out with the devil himself in a game of cat and mouse.”

“Hell To Pay” toured several cities last summer. The Winnipeg Free Press gave it four and a half stars, claiming the show is "steeped in bourbon and gleefully rolled in grit, ‘Hell To Pay’ is a delightful debauchery."