First released in Playboy magazine in 1979, <em>The Devil and Billy Markham</em> is an epic poem written by Shel Silverstein, who was Playboy cartoonist at the time. The poem was first transformed into a one-man play and premiered at the prestigious Lincoln Centre in 1989. This South African production starring James Cairns has already won numerous awards, including the Ovation Award at the 2017 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and is definitely one of the highlights of the August theatre calendar.<br /> <br /> The poem relates the story of the night the devil walked into a bar on Nashville’s famed Music Row looking for a victim. After Billy Markham takes up the Devil’s challenge to a dice game - “And, Hell, I ain't afraid to roll them devilish dice of yours” - he is taken on a whirlwind journey through Nashville, hell and heaven meeting a host of quirky characters along the way, including a pool hustling God Almighty himself. Devilishly witty the play explores the good and evil in man, and the lengths to which people will go to achieve fame. <br /> <br /> The play is set to an appropriately tongue-in-cheek soundtrack, which includes songs like <em>Highway to Hell</em> and <em>Stairway to Heaven. </em>Fans of Johnny Cash may well find the writing style in the play familiar; Silverstein also wrote Cash’s hit <em>A Boy named Sue. </em><br /> <br /> This play is not suitable for audiences under 16 years old.