God, the Devil and Me
Fionnuala Donnelly, who also directs
Lion and Unicorn Theatre
Star rating: 1
It’s a good idea for a play: psychotic teenage boy subjected to two conflicting voices/figures in his head/bedroom in the form of God and the Devil. The basic set gives us a pile of LPs, a record player and connotes a hint of adolescent untidiness. No sign of anything more modern so what period are we supposed to be in?
The devil (Campbell Maddox) and God (Neo Jelfs) spar with each other affably while Gabe (Noah Edmondson) looks from one to the other and chips in angrily. We certainly feel his angst especially when they tell him he’s really an angel so he sprouts wings. The angelic status is not fully explored however.
And that’s one of this show’s several problems. It’s full of undeveloped ideas. There is a suggestion that the whole contrivance is a play within a play, with playwright/director Fionnula Donnelly coming on as stage manager (she also plays Gabe’s mother) but it falls puzzlingly flat.
The script actually contains some quite witty lines and ideas but they are never given space to land so the show falls sadly short of its “comedic” billing. God, who keeps telling people not to blaspheme, shouting “my son on a bike” could be funny, for example, but it races past unnoticed. So do the Devil’s quips about God not having raised his son very well along with would-be jokes about the Bible.
Actors, especially Maddox and Edmonson, often gabble so that we barely hear what they’re saying. It’s almost as if Donnelly, as director, doesn’t trust her own writing. Or perhaps she is concerned about the 60 minute parameter? In that case, though, why do we get a pretty pointless game of truth or dare with audience participation and an awkward, silent, quite lengthy blackout scene change simply to bring on two folding chairs?
In short, this clunky show is bemusing. More work might help but I’m not holding my breath.
