“Gabe is a perfectly average teenager, with perfectly average problems… except he is best friends with god and the devil. Gabe will have to navigate teenage life all while keeping two omnipotent beings in tow. GCSE stress… if only!”
Welcome, to the weird and wonderful world of God, the devil and me, a one hour 10 minute surreal Brechtian comedy about a strange friendship that feels too good to be true and blurs the lines of “good” or “bad.” Oh, also… the protagonist has psychosis. Have you ever wondered what having two omnipotent beings on your shoulder might feel like? Then do we have the show for you. The show has creativity and humour to spare.
We spoke to writer and director Fionn Donnelly to learn more.
What can you tell me about God, The Devil and Me?
I can tell you it’s a roughly 1-hour, quirky comedy with a lot of heart- it explores mental illness, faith, being a teenager and, in some ways, what it means to be friends. The show focuses on Gabe, an average teenager… who just happens to be best friends with God and the Devil. It’s a bit of a wild ride, with temptations, revelations and some very snazzy top hats, but overall it’s a humanist exploration of what it means to believe in something and tries to bring empathy to conditions like psychosis. If you want to know how all this ties together though, you’ll have to come see for yourself at the Lion and Unicorn. Plus you get the chance to meet God… or the Devil, whichever excites you.
What inspired you to write God, The Devil and Me?
I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (a psychotic illness) when I was 18. I found people had varied understandings of what that was, often stemming from misinformation and struggling to emotionally connect with it. A friend of mine once said that if they could meet hallucinations they could understand it- I just thought that was the best idea. Living with psychosis, I’ve found that when you say, “I hear God” that feels incredibly alien to people because of its scale, but if you say “I heard a voice and, because I grew up Christian, I thought it must be God,” those broken-down steps really help them colour it in. Ultimately, I wanted to give people a digestible way to understand, that would still be funny, entertaining and real.
How would you describe Gabe’s journey throughout the play?
Oh boy, that’s a tough one. I think it’s important to say that Gabe is a funny, capable, insightful young man and isn’t passively victim to anything that happens in the show. I think it’s important to present active characters, even if when they’re struggling that isn’t so obvious. I think ultimately Gabe seeks what he feels he lacks in God and the Devil, so the journey isn’t so much about who they are in reality, but who they are, or need to be for Gabe. Ultimately, I think Gabe’s journey is really about a lot of life’s hard lessons when you’re an adolescent (who your friends are, how parent/child relationships change, that life is complicated) those lessons are just framed in some very exceptional circumstances.
There seems to be a delicate balance between lightness and gravity in your approach. How did you manage that?
Well, firstly, there are a lot of elements that require sensitivity (religion, mental health, toxic relationships) which really grounds the work. In some ways that’s where humour comes in naturally- everyone has light and shade. God and the Devil are looming entities and straight comedy could make them clownish- a real disservice. The root is layering those characters and giving them very clear reasons why they say anything. They should be funny because what they’re saying digs deep and reveals something about them. God and the Devil should be people you would want to hang out with because otherwise how can you understand Gabe wanting to. We all have friends who we spend time with because they entertain us. Nothing’s realer than a friendship that’s flawed, but entertaining to be around.
Can you tell us about God and the Devil as characters in the play? How do they interact with Gabe?
God and the Devil are probably not what you expect… We play with their pretty loaded history. They are a bit like an old married couple, constantly bickering but, with a united goal- telling Gabe he’s an angel. The Devil is particularly unexpected- he’s a bit pathetic really, whereas God is pretty arrogant. We took biblical inspiration but, also adapted them to the modern world. We see them through Gabe’s eyes, which explains their unusual presentation- they are somewhat Gabe’s interpretation of the entities. When it comes to them and Gabe, it really is almost like a strange family, or teenage friendship- they give him advice about his mum, play truth or dare and tuck him in at night. It sounds strange but, pays off in the show.
What was the first piece of theatre you remember having a big impact on you?
That’s tough. My mum always took me to local kids shows. They were funny, quirky, with a deeper message like “the Sun the moon and half a chicken.” I just remember laughing riotously and being sad when it finished. At 11, mum also took me to see “Slava’s snow show.” It really changed how I viewed comedy- realising you can feel sad about why something makes you laugh. I am a huge Chekov fan, at 21 there was a production of three sisters at the national theatre. It was set in 1960s Africa and, alongside Chekov’s approach to action and motivation, demonstrated the added layers of setting something in an entirely new context. Since 18 I’ve been a huge fan of Luke Wright, Ella Hickson, Alice Birch and Luke Barnes as writers too.
What keeps you inspired?
People mainly- people around me, my cast, politics/society, acts of kindness, especially conversation. I don’t just want to write what I want people to know, I want people to engage with me- even in disagreement. It’s really easy to get bogged down in online discourse. I’m not here to say the world isn’t in a terrible state, but I think, particularly online, it’s easy to feel powerless. When people come to see a show, they don’t just consume the content- they meet people, engage, have conversations about it afterwards, even change. Really, I enjoy conversation because it’s been the most meaningful thing that’s happened to me. Our work would be nothing without people and the conversations they need/want to have or the conversations they inspire us to have.
What do you hope the audience takes away from this play?
I hope people leave understanding how easy it is to believe something outlandish and that we can all fall into this- by extension I hope people understand this in the context of mental health especially. That, for people with psychosis, their voices are real to them, and, like any relationship- sometimes they’re comforting, sometimes they’re annoying, sometimes you want them around and others you don’t. I hope it changes a perception of people with psychosis as mad, dangerous or even passive. I hope people leave with a deeper understanding of themselves, that it is ok to make a mistake in who you trust, what you believe or the actions you take- so long as you can, somehow, find yourself again, accept you were wrong and not judge yourself.
God, The Devil and Me runs at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 6th - 10th January 2026. Tickets are available https://www.thelionandunicorntheatre.com/whats-on
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