The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey at Summerhall – Edinburgh Fringe review

Malcolm and Angéle Galea’s The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey starts in a strange place – a land of broken toys, where an oddball town ticks along. Wilfully abstract and playful, into this world strides Magnus, tasked with fixing a church’s broken bell, seemingly an impossible feat and one that could end with mortal peril. Magus gives it a try, with deathly consequences.

Performed by Joseph Zammit and Rebecca Camilleri, the town comes to life as Magnus’ tribulations continue – Camilleri in particular juggles a huge number of roles from Magnus’ life (and the afterlife), across the runtime. As the saga continues, revelations are made and Zammit’s Coffinkey comes to understand his own sense of happiness, while staring despair and a broken-hearted reality in the face.

The production itself is fairly perfunctory, standard stuff, with the unambitious staging rarely living up to the Galeas’ rich concepts that give the show its central drive. Zammit and Camilleri provide earnest, endearing turns, but you will the show to bring out some late flourish to really impress. 

Extended metaphor, questions of deliberate escapism and a framing narrative that explores how we cope with grief (it might be wrong to reveal the show’s “twist”, though signs of where it is going are presented fairly early on) all lend this a rich, thought-provoking texture. It is certainly a harrowing watch, but one infused with a sense of hope.