He created improvisational dramas, mime, musicals, and examples of commedia dell'arte, particularly its violent Parisian form, Grand Guignol; he also drew heavily upon classical, modern, popular, and nondramatic literature.
Barker's eclecticism resulted in unusual dramas combining diverse cultures and literatures. A Clown's Sodom (1976) emphasizes the archetypal in commedia dell'arte; out of it developed The Day of the Dog (1979), a surreal mime drama that uses elements from Grand Guignol and gave the Dog Company its name. Nightlives (1980) combines film noir with the doppelgänger motif of fantasy. The History of the Devil, which opened in Amsterdam in 1981 and had a two-season run at the Edinburgh Festival, is a court trial of the Devil, combining elements from John Milton, the comic strip, television courtroom drama, and rock music. Paradise Street (1982) is an apocalyptic and visionary encounter between Queen Elizabeth I's court and contemporary Liverpudlians. Also influenced by Grand Guignol, Frankenstein in Love (1982) is a love story relocating the monster in modern, war-torn South America. Colossus (1983) is about Francisco Goya, Barker's favorite artist, while in Subtle Bodies (1983) Edward Lear's ghost manages the dream lives of those in a wedding party.
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