At 3:43 am, time stops dead. In Maltese theatre-makers Malcolm and Angèle Galea’s The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey, that timestamp marks both a fictional plunge and a devastating real-life fracture.
We open in a darkly whimsical, crepuscular land of broken toys, where Magnus (Joseph Zammit)—a dishevelled bell-mender clad in a patched jacket and well-worn hat—ascends an impossibly high spire to repair the “Sacred Bell of What Could Be.” Success promises a wish granted; failure means a permanently broken heart. When Magnus falls, he plunges into “The Gloom,” a twilight purgatory populated by personified emotions, and a charming spectral entity he will name Harmony—a childlike figure neither living nor dead.
It is a rich, gothic fairy-tale setting, constructed with minimal theatrical real estate. Surrounded by scattered autumnal leaves, a single wooden altar-like box, and a collection of masks, Zammit and co-star Becky Camilleri summon an entire eerie cosmos through physical versatility and rhythmic storytelling.
Yet as Magnus endures a series of surreal, bureaucratic ordeals to escape the underworld, the narrative reveals its true, heartbreaking anchor: the fairytale is an elaborate coping mechanism crafted by a grieving writer struggling to process the premature loss of a child, while her partner desperately tries to reach her through the fog of trauma.
Storytelling as a Shield Against Trauma
This meta-narrative framing gives the production a profound emotional weight, but navigating the line between whimsical fantasy and raw grief isn’t without its difficulties. The show’s episodic structure in “The Gloom” occasionally stalls its momentum.
“It is a rich, gothic fairy-tale setting, constructed with minimal theatrical real estate.“
As Magnus cycles through trial after trial in this underworld and after resurrection—from existential red tape to toxic positivity—the pacing can feel a little repetitive. Furthermore, the declamatory delivery of Magnus’s travails can feel slightly incongruous with the delicate, nuanced prose elsewhere in the script.
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Where the production triumphantly succeeds is in the extraordinary versatility of its cast and its deft technical coordination. Camilleri delivers a powerhouse performance, snapping seamlessly across a dozen roles—from the rhyming Narrator and grieving mother to malevolent gargoyles and eccentric townspeople—often within the space of a single breath.
Magnus’s frequent hammer blows land with acoustic precision, mirroring the rhythmic, mechanical heartbeat of a story attempting to fix what is fundamentally shattered. Directed with a sure hand by Philip Leone-Ganado, and presented in partnership with the baby loss charity Tommy’s, the play offers hope, not easy, sanitised comfort.
By grounding its gothic surrealism in the messy, non-linear reality of mourning, The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey demonstrates how storytelling can serve as both a protective armour and a bridge back to life. It is an inventive, deeply moving hour of theatre that uses the language of dark fable to bring genuine light to the quietest, heaviest corners of human sorrow.
Show details
Venue: Venue 26: Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL (Google Maps)
Date(s): Thu 06 Aug to Mon 31 Aug (24 shows)
Time(s): 10:30am (75 mins)
Age recommendation: 12+
Price: From £10 (concessions available)
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