A brand new show is coming to Make It writes Studio Below and we have a special plug in for God, The Devil and Me

The story follows Gabe Price, a young man navigating the tumultuous waters of adolescence, who counts both God and the Devil as his best friends. At first glance, Gabe's life appears to be a quirky coming-of-age comedy, where divine and diabolical forces guide him on a secret angelic mission. However, as the narrative unfolds, a deeper, more poignant truth emerges: Gabe's celestial companions are manifestations of his mind, shadows cast by the light of psychosis.

Through Gabe's story, the aim is to humanise a condition often shrouded in stigma, offering empathy and relatability to those who struggle with similar challenges.

We had the opportunity to speak with Fionnuala Donnelly about the entire show, ‘God, The Devil and Me’

Can you elaborate on the concept of your show and how you came up with the idea of having Gabe's best friends be God and the Devil?

Well if I’m being entirely honest… it was based on an experience of mine as a teenager. I remember being quite an awkward young person, who struggled to make friends and that quite often my hallucinations and delusions felt more like friends to me (however abusive) than people around me. I think this is a very exaggerated version of that, but I suppose it was a way to reflect how complicated and loaded the relationships people with psychosis and their hallucinations are.

They feel real and with that comes relationships as complex as with real flawed, funny, kind, supportive, abusive people in your life.  A friendship can be an incredibly intricate relationship with a lot of nance and complexity and I suppose when you’re a teenager and only just developing a notion of how relationships really work anyway, it’s only natural that your going to lean more to what you know and is familiar and for young people developing a psychotic illness, there’s something comforting about hallucinations and delusions as well as frightening or strange. It’s basically a way of saying hallucinations and delusions feel real, and nothings more real than a friendship that doesn’t quite serve you to have but is fun to be part of- we’ve all been there. 

Fionnuala faced numerous challenges in developing a storyline, they explained:

an obvious challenge was pacing. Making sure that the shift felt authentic and representative whilst also not pushing the audience too far. A change of tone can often jar an audience and to rush that, might be to prevent them from truly absorbing all that you’re trying to offer. Additionally, it was making sure that we didn’t divert too far from the original tone or message because at the end of the day even really serious things in life still bring joy and humour and just because the situation becomes more serious, shouldn’t mean the characters morph into deep brooding characters and lose all their amazing funny, energetic qualities.

They also added,

The reality may shift, but characters should always stay grounded and true to who they are and what you like about a character in a show like this, should still be there at its core at the end, just maybe more developed or changed. Our biggest challenge was how to give indication of tone changing subtly, without watering down the big reveal. We want the audience to go “oh right, that’s not what I thought was coming,” in order for the show to have its full effect, but Easter eggs gave more insight into elements of psychosis to look back on post-reveal. Honestly, the idea of a change in tone to put across a message is nothing new, but I think what was challenging was finding how to do it with these characters and this story in a way that did it justice and keeps the audience engaged the whole way through even if they have to do a bit more work in the second act. In fact making it so that hopefully they want to do that work and enjoy that part too. 

How did you ensure that the portrayal of psychosis in your show is both accurate and respectful?

I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder or other psychotic conditions since I was 17. The show is based on the first psychotic episode I suffered. I suppose something that was important was representing that psychosis often affects people in ways that are understandable to them. For instance, many people with religious delusions were religious in childhood. So in a way the religious themes of the show also had to be handled delicately to be respectful for sufferers and reflecting how for many people the struggle of psychosis is believing in god anyway, but having to come to terms that the god they heard was not “God.” I think for me it was about taking my experience and putting it in a way that was accessible to people with limited knowledge of psychosis, whilst also being representative and enjoyable on another level for those who’ve been there. It was about not forgetting people who may have had similar experiences may be in the audience and they may not share all elements of my personal account, so it was finding digestible ways to put across wider experiences that are shared and show that one persons experience is unique but that looking at it on the sense of “oh wow, what must that feel like generally,” and knowing the general experience can help reduce stigma and make people with psychosis feel seen- without having to be outed. It’s about growing the idea that we don’t have to know every intricate detail of a personal experience to learn to empathise and respect it. 

What impact do you hope this twist will have on the audience's understanding of psychosis?

The hope is really that, I think when people hear the word psychosis, it feels so far away and an alien experience that they feel they can’t relate to it. You know, we all have that confidence in our perception, “I’d never be fooled like that.” But for people with psychosis, it’s that exact confidence in their perception that can lead them to some quite  complex and removed beliefs. The thing is the phrase “I hear the voice of god,” feels so big and outlandish, but when you see it as “I was brought up in the church and my parents were devout, so when I started hearing a voice that no one else could, I knew it was god.” It kinda makes more sense right? The point of the reveal is to show the audience what it’s like to believe something so deeply and fundamentally (as they hopefully will with the first act) and have to reassess what it all means. Those feelings of confusion, embarrassment at having got it wrong and potential resistance to being wrong so trying to find ways to still be right, should become relatable through what we encourage and discourage the audience to invest in and how it shifts.

Fionnuala believes this show can contribute to reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness, particularly psychosis. They go on to say,

I think the show’s main purpose is to create empathy and relatability to things that, looking in externally, can seem quite alien and distant. Most fear stems from a lack of understanding, but it tends to be that anything purely educational struggles to break down boundaries. I think all good theatre is based on fundamental principles of creating authentic characters, a gripping storyline, emotional resonance, and a strong message that is clear throughout. I don’t think we think we’ve done anything groundbreaking by disrupting this, more tried to find creative ways to encompass all of this effectively so that, frankly, an audience can enjoy, be gripped and learn at the same time.

Even though a lot of the show has surreal, quirky, comedic elements, it’s important to hold these fundamental principles because that’s what allows an audience to feel a part of something and to feel engaged with something and, if you do it well enough, they won’t even notice it’s happening and they’re learning. It allows people to take in the information in more of a drip than a gush, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming and hopefully that means that they can begin to relate and understand better things that felt untouchable before. There’s nothing wrong with big bold pieces that offer a gush, I think we’re trying to be more gentle with a bold energy, but it’s already quite a concept getting on board with god and the devil as a teenagers friend- we’re not opposed to shock I think we just know it needs its place. And when it comes to psychosis, as gripping as a gush can be for some themes, most people have a piece of minimal knowledge on psychosis and can be resistant to learning about it based on stereotypes, so our show allows people to engage with it without really pushing just playing with their expectations, their perception and allowing them to play back- and hopefully at the end of all that it all seems a bit less intimidating.

What advice would you give to other artists looking to address mental health issues in their work?

Don’t lose creativity. It’s great to have a purpose and it’s great to have a message, but that alone won’t make it engaging theatre however important the cause. You have to be prepared to be representative, but you also have to accept there is no perfectly accurate representation, the way you think creatively will still carry effective representation and allow an audience to engage. I mean especially with fringe theatre. You won’t please everybody, but if you are creative, playful and remain true to the shows designed purpose- a lot of people will take something away. It also sounds contradictory when exploring mental health, but don’t be afraid to lean out of emotion. Big emotional moments have their place, but if the whole show is loaded from the start, all that wonderful work you’ve done may get drowned out. Allow characters to be funny, or silly, or even callous or rude because representation is about people and all people can have these qualities- mental illness or not. Representation doesn’t mean showing mental illness as constantly negative to people, in the sense that while it absolutely creates blocks and hurdles, you have to celebrate that people push through those- even if only to make a bad joke or it only lasts a beat. I guess what I’m saying is don’t lose that people with mental illness are people, who maybe struggle more, but who are just as capable of being funny, or clever, or entertaining or even writing a fringe show about their first psychotic episode. Don’t lose that, just because people with mental illness have immense struggles, they can still achieve and to represent them otherwise is still misrepresentation however sensitive you want to be. I was told when I was 17 by a well meaning psychiatrist that given psychosis is affected by stress, that I should consider a more low key life than the arts. And whilst I know what she meant, it made me deeply unhappy to think I couldn’t do what I knew I wanted to do. It’s taken a long time and a few falls but I am so proud of this play and if it weren’t for friends in the same position showing it could be done, I may never have had the courage to try. 

Looking back on the journey of creating this show, what has been the most rewarding aspect for you personally?

The most rewarding aspect for this show would be getting to put something on that I really am passionate about, with a great team behind me, in a way that didn’t change or adapt my vision for how I wanted to do things. I am so immensely proud of our cast and their dedication, I’m also proud of what we’ve given the community with really accessible theatre with regards to pricing and community outreach, but yeah not to sound too vain, but I’m just delighted at seeing it all come together in all its quirkiness and silliness to say something really important the way I saw it being. And we’re obviously all really looking forward to people seeing it and telling us what they thought- even god, the devil and Gabe who will remain in character after the show. 

Covered by Meg Kay