THE TRIALS OF MAGNUS COFFINKEY
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★
“moves between moments of genuine sadness and much broader comedy, creating a strange contrast between the two”
A broken fairy tale for broken people, The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey is an ambitious piece of theatre which uses the conventions of a fairy tale to explore grief, trauma and the ways we try to make sense of unimaginable loss. It follows Magnus Coffinkey, a bellmaker who falls from a bell tower and finds himself in a strange, otherworldly place called Gloom, where he encounters a collection of unusual characters.
Alongside Magnus’s story is that of a modern-day couple dealing with the loss of their baby, with the fairy tale gradually revealed to be something the mother has written as a way of processing her grief. It’s an inventive premise, and there are some genuinely moving moments in the couple’s story. The eventual revelation provides a clever link between the two worlds, with the broken toys of Magnus’s fairy tale taking on a much more poignant meaning.
There is clearly a lot of thought behind the world that has been created here. The production has the atmosphere of a dark fairytale, helped enormously by Angele Galea’s sound design, which moves between something almost music-box-like and more sombre, melancholic sounds. The result is a world that feels both playful and slightly unsettling, which suits the show’s exploration of childhood and loss.
Joseph Zammit as Magnus brings a real earnestness to the character, making him engaging to watch, whilst Rebecca Camilleri uses a series of different headpieces and voices to transform between characters. I occasionally found her characterisation a little broad, and would’ve appreciated a slightly more sophisticated take on some of the characters.
There are lots of interesting theatrical ideas here, from the projection used to create the bell to the large chest at the centre of the stage, but I think the production could benefit from committing more fully to some of them. Projection, costume changes, props and movement are all being used, and I think there is an opportunity to take one of those ideas and really push it to help with the storytelling. The projection in particular was effective when it appeared, and I would have loved to have seen more of it to help illustrate the story.
The theatrical style is deliberately playful and childlike. There’s something quite interesting about placing such heavy subject matter within a world that feels so whimsical, although the tonal shifts can sometimes feel quite abrupt. The show moves between moments of genuine sadness and much broader comedy, creating a strange contrast between the two.
I can see why so many people have connected with this show. The subject matter is handled with sensitivity and there were people around me who were clearly moved by it. For me, I struggled a bit with the way the two stories were being told side by side, and found some of the performance choices didn’t quite sit right. However kudos to the team for finding such a playful way of exploring such an important topic.
THE TRIALS OF MAGNUS COFFINKEY
Red Lecture Theatre at Summerhall at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reviewed on 25th August 2026
by Joseph Dunitz
Photography by ShotByTrendy
