The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with over 3,700 shows. This year, Playbill is on board our FringeShip for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
As part of our Edinburgh Fringe coverage, Playbill is seeing a whole lotta shows—and we’re letting you know what we think of them. Consider these reviews a friendly, opinionated guide as you try to choose a show at the festival.
A half-brother, represented by a donkey’s jawbone. An estranged father, represented by a neckerchief. A descent into the underworld, celebrated with a shot of mezcal.
Comala, Comala, a breathtaking reimagining of Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Paramo, is the fulfillment of a son’s promise to his dying mother: Find his estranged father, Pedro, avenge his crimes, and breathe life into a land where the living are haunted by the heartaches of the dead. The production, by Mestiza playwright Conchi León (with music and lyrics by Pablo Chemor), debuts at Fringe after a sold-out run in Mexico City. This fever dream of protagonist Juan Preciado (played movingly by Stephano Morales) is aided by a troupe of musicians who seamlessly slip through the ether. The company of performers announce their roles, each moving from character to character with the dexterity of a hand plucking a fiddle’s strings.
This séance, a reckoning to which we are to bear witness, takes place almost entirely in candlelight, with its eight performers huddled between large drums. As much is sung as is spoken, entirely in Spanish and presented with English supertitles.
Time is fluid as the town Comala rises from the ashes. Juan learns of his father’s cruelty; he was a violent man who frightened the townsfolk into complacency, only begetting more tragedy at their demise. For those audience members who benefit from content warnings, the show does feature discussion of sexual assault, sex trafficking, and depictions of suicide. Pedro was a cancer about whom the townsfolk can only whisper, and it’s the whispers that threaten to undo Juan as he struggles to catch his breath.
There are struggles for audience members, a sense of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it in the push-and-pull between watching the supertitles and watching the actors (especially for those who are unfamiliar with the novel). At the same time, there is also a sense of powerlessness to the brutality of men. Despite this, there is intimacy, there is community, there is cleansing. There are melodies you cannot help but hum along to both in and out of the small theatre space. There is a soft appreciation for folklore and a curiosity about the specters we pass through as we wander, contemplating our own heartbreaks.
Comala, Comala is an arresting spiritual experience. We cannot change the past, but we can wake the dead and give them an audience. We can find beauty in a haunting, and community in grief. We can let music and mysticism wash over us for just about an hour, a paper cup of mezcal as our spirit guide.
Comala, Comala is performed at ZOO Southside until August 25. Tickets are available here. See photos from Comala, Comala below.
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
Cast of Comala, Comala
