Edinburgh Fringe 2025
God, the Devil and Me
Tip Top Theatre Collective
Genre: Drama, New Writing, Youth Theatre
Venue: Paradise at The Vault
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Whe God and the Devil constantly try to distract young teenager Gabe it could be a story of divine intervention or a serious mental health episode. A young company takes on a difficult subject in a very entertaining study of teenage problems and their reality in our time
Review
We are greeted at the door by a tall guy dressed in white. He invites us in, warns us to expect something. Inside the theatre the Devil awaits us, red waistcoat and top hat. Relaxed and chatty, he banters with us, hands us a proper programme, then apologises for the late start time. One of the cast is apparently stuck in traffic, we are all struggling with the wind today etc. But this is already part of the show. God (Neo Jelfs) and the Devil have a plan with somebody called Gabe and thus the stage is set. This is a teenager’s bedroom, clothes strewn about, he has a lovely old-fashioned record player, a stack of vintage 1980s and 90s LPs, a pretend bed on the floor. Gabe comes in, nervously sorting through his LPs, big headphones on, but as soon as he takes them off he can hear the Devil talk to him. We are at first not sure whether this is a fun story of divine intervention or a story about Gabe’s mental health problems. Quite obviously Gabe is overwhelmed and not too happy about the voice constantly interfering with his thought processes. The Devil then introduces God to Gabe at which point the boy becomes even more drawn into this situation, overwhelmed and unsure about what is happening to him, though he seems to believe.
Gabe has missed school. His female friend Sam (Miranda McEwen, sweet as aclassic teenager) shows up, brings him his homework, the Devil and God ridicule the girl, tell Gabe repeatedly to get rid of her, that she is stupid, not interested in him and that neither is his mother. The boy is vulnerable and unsure, friendly and constantly becoming more and more fragile. Nobody but him can see the Devil and God and when he shouts at them to shut up, his mother and his friend believe he’s shouting at them instead. So not Divine intervention but a mental health issue and quite a serious one as it turns out. Eventually, Gabe believes he has grown wings, that he is an angel who has to save the world and that he must fly. He sits crumpled on the side of the auditorium, a beautiful image of despair and mental agony.
Act 2, Gabe has been sent to an institution where the actor who plays the devil just takes off his red coat and hat and becomes the psychiatrist who looks after Gabe who does not want to interact and just says “you look familiar”. Eventually he strikes up a tentative friendship with another patient, Hannah. She has an eating disorder and continually nervously walks, is forced to sit still, obviously to help her regain her mental stability and her strength at the hospital. The young people are encouraged to distract themselves and eventually for Gabe especially, this begins to help. God leaves his hat on the side of the stage and vanishes. The actor then turns into another psychiatrist who helps Gabe confront his mother with the fact his father is missing from his life and that he could not understand why his mother spent so much time at church. The reasons for this situation are not unpacked, but at least there is a dialogue and understanding. The Devil tries much longer to distract Gabe but the boy manages to ignore him, a scene of real theatrical daring, when Gabe and Hannah continue a conversation that the Devil continuously interrupts. Eventually the Devil also leaves his red hat by the side of the stage and Gabe is free to pursue his life. The girl remains behind. Tells Gabe to f*** off, which for her is still all she can do: swearing and running. No cure for her as yet.
The setting as usual at The Fringe is extremely bare, this show probably runs on a shoestring. The record sleeves of The LPs are all empty except for the Kate Bush Hounds of Love album. Her song Running up that Hill and its lyrics ’if I only could, I’d make a deal with God, and I’d get him to swap our places’ appear repeatedly in the dialogue and when Gabe puts the actual record on the actual record player, it doesn’t spin but the music comes out of the loud speakers. The folding metal chairs are basic. One of them still has its price tag on. I wish details like these could be addressed because for the audience they can be distracting. Still, this is a show created by young people. The youngest is 17 the oldest 25, they come from an area where there is no theatre for young people and I am impressed by their work. Their show is entertaining throughout, their voices are clear, they are good actors. They speak incredibly fast at times. I realise that younger people do speak faster than us oldies and have started listening to their voicemails at double speed. The young actor who plays Gabe (Noah Edmondson) is very striking as is Campbell Maddox who plays the devil. All others did a grand job for drama students well on their way to a career. Writer and director Fionnuala Donnelly also played the mother. Young Angel Johnson who plays Hannah owns her part with lovely energy.
It is great to see a young company come to Edinburgh with a team of five actors, taking on the risk and having an adventure. According to the director, one reason why quite a few audience members have come is that it’s a show with more than one person in it. We were asked whether we would mind audience interaction at the beginning and if not, to let the Devil know, but we were not unduly challenged. This is also the first show that hands a proper paper leaflet to the audience, with admittedly a few typos, giving us their info, websites, asking us to support the youth mental health charity Youngminds, for whom they collect at the exit. I feel Tip Top Theatre Collective will keep going from strength to strength.
