The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey opens as a children’s fairytale, recited with a singsong rhythm and gentle, hypnotic rhymes. Becky Camilleri’s narration lulls the audience into a dark world of broken toys, where Magnus (Joseph Zammit) repairs broken bells. When trying to mend this world’s biggest bell, at the top of a tall tower, Magnus falls into another world, and subtly, devastatingly, the story warps into something else.
The world Magnus falls into keeps shifting, and as it does so the story shifts with it, uncovering layers of unexpected and powerful emotional depth. Magnus Coffinkey turns out to be a profound meditation on unimaginable grief, and the feelings of guilt, pain and sorrow that accompany it.
Zammit plays Magnus as a man ground down and living (just about) without hope, trudging through life in a frayed jacket and a patched hat. His performance is physical and intense, conjuring cloud-scraping towers and hellish, agonising depths. Around him, Camilleri is superb in populating the rest of Magnus’ world with everything from sardonic gargoyles to hyperactive bakers, effortlessly switching between them and bringing each one to vivid life.
There is no set to speak of, just a large toy box in the centre of a stage scattered with autumnal leaves. With a few simple costume changes, a jarring soundscape and subtle lighting, entire worlds are brought to life only to come crashing down again.
As the story morphs in and out of Magnus’ fairytale world, Camilleri and Zammit reveal fresh sides to themselves – brittle and hollowed out and all too human. They share an intense chemistry and sorrow, dragging choked silences out of an enraptured audience. Camilleri in particular gives a performance of heartbreaking pain. Their depth of feeling holds the audience spellbound throughout.
There are jokes too, reflecting that even in the midst of despair humour will insist on intruding. When life feels like it has stopped, the rest of the world somehow – unaccountably and unforgivably – carries on, well-meaning but ultimately impotent.
Like all the best fairytales, The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey is a powerful parable, letting its audience better understand something unspeakably human. The audience heads out into the Edinburgh smirr, minds full of Magnus Coffinkey’s dark world and a sliver of something almost hopeful: love is the most important thing in life; everything else is just a distraction until you die.
Performed at Summerhall on Sunday 09 August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Thursday 6th – Monday 31st August 2026 (not 17th, 24th), 10.30
Running time: 75 minutes, no interval
Co-writers: Malcolm Galea and Angele Galea
Director: Philip Leone-Ganado
Associate Producer: Vikesh Godhwani
Lighting Designer: Sam Edmunds
Original Music: Angele Galea
Cast: Becky Camilleri and Joseph Zammit