Nadia Chambers. Short, Fantasy, UK, 2025, 8mins.
A Misty Moon production.
“It is said that the Devil has all the best tunes. This is broadly true. But Heaven has the best choreographers” - Terry Pratchett, 'Good Omens'.
In writer/director/auteur Jason Read's latest short, 'Reunion', we learn that the Devil's tunes are apparently being belted out on hell's throne by Cilla Black as a surprise (surprise) to really bad sinners. Meanwhile, Liberace is tinkling the ivories at the pearly gates...
Originally conceived as a two-hander for Brian Murphy and Dudley Sutton, (with Brian as God and Dudley as the Devil), sadly both these dearly missed souls departed this mortal plane before the project could be realised. However, divine inspiration came to producer Stuart Morriss who re-cast Bill Fellows (Coronation Street, Ted Lasso) as God, and Nicola Bryant (Doctor Who, Blackadder's Christmas Carol) as the Devil.
Having tracked the 'supreme being' down to a retirement home - where he's turned himself human to take a sabbatical from 'celebrity fatigue' - the Devil confesses that "Devilling's no fun without a nemesis." For his part, God concedes it's really nice to see his fallen angel again...and neither can recall exactly what they fell out about in the first place...
Following in the footsteps of Elizabeth Hurley and Jennifer Love Hewitt, Nicola Bryant is a seductively sassy Satan. Here the Devil (literally) wears Prada whilst God wears pyjamas, albeit "still sporting the sexy beardy look." Jason Read's delightfully devilish and witty script manages in a lean 8 minutes to somewhat miraculously encompass: just who God actually intended to inherit the planet before disaster struck; evolution; the real benchmark against which you're judged fit or not for heaven (clue: what does 'God' spell backwards...?); and just who is and who isn't filling up heaven these days...
Deliciously played by both Fellows and Bryant, each relishing their respective roles as the archetypal celestial beings, by the time the smoke dissipates and the credits roll with 'I don't Want to Set the World on Fire' (not performed by Jess Conrad), it's hard not to feel privileged to have been invited to this very special 'Reunion' - and harder still not to sing its praises.
(N.B. I would however caution against accepting a cuppa from that nurse Rosemary (Nadia Chambers) whilst watching it...)
*****
Paul Worts
