Photo by Elisa Von Brockdorff

The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey

“For what can you say to someone when their heart’s been cleft in two?

Nothing…

No words will ever do.”

In a whimsical fairy tale set in a land of broken toys, Magnus Coffinkey must fix a bell on top of an impossibly high spire. Success will make his wish come true – whereas the price of failure is a permanently broken heart and a lifetime of guilt, pain and sorrow.

This broken fairy tale for broken people uses fairy tale as a gentle tool for processing and trying to make sense out of personal trauma and grief. Charming, honest and devastating, The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey is cowritten by Malcolm and Angéle Galea.

In 2024 it won the FringeReview Outstanding Theatre Award at Brighton Fringe. "This 80-minute Give or Take Production from Malta is the most devastating piece of theatre I’ve seen not only at this Fringe, but most others too. Of the 115 (mostly London) shows I’ve seen this year so far, it ranks as the most profound, and one of the very finest. Only one other Fringe show I’ve seen approaches it… but this breaks things." FringeReview

Duration: 80 mins

Ages: 14+

Cast: 1F, 1M

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Script Sample

Play Programme