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Copla: A Spanish Cabaret

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 5 Published: 25 Aug 2025 Assembly George Square Show Dates: 31 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

When it comes to Copla, Alejandro Postigo is not only a pre-eminent exponent and performer of the art, but also a world authority. It was the subject of his PhD thesis at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and he is currently Senior Lecturer in Musical Theatre at the London College of Music. His knowledge and talent combine in his latest show, Copla: A Spanish Cabaret, a celebration of Spain’s vibrant cultural and political history, brought to life with a queer twist. The show makes its Fringe debut at Assembly George Square.

Copla is storytelling set to music. Each song is a miniature drama about love, shame, defiance or heartbreak.

So, what is Copla? In an interview with Broadway Baby, Postigo explained that it “is a popular song tradition that emerged in Spain in the early 20th century. It’s often compared to torch songs or chanson because it blends folk roots with theatrical flair. At heart, Copla is storytelling set to music. Each song is a miniature drama about love, shame, defiance or heartbreak.” His show is an illustrated and practical guide to the genre, in which he performs songs, shows video footage and photographs, and relates a fascinating history that reaches out from his homeland to other parts of Europe and the USA.

We are invited to join him in a song from The Sound of Music, sung in both English and Spanish — the musical he fell in love with as a child, which stirred his early love of singing. We hear the same song performed by numerous artists over many decades as an example of how Copla spread, and also how it was both repressed and subverted under Franco to boost his ideology. It was even exported to be sung in German under Hitler. But after the Civil War, it was reclaimed by the people, especially the marginalised, who featured in many songs concerning relationships outside heterosexual marriage, love gone wrong, laments for a lost homeland, or bawdy celebrations of forbidden passion. The warmth of this heartfelt music has the power to bring both tears and laughter, or simply the chance to sing along with your favourite diva. In the show, we also enjoy live violin accompaniment.

Copla: A Spanish Cabaret is not only an entertaining show but also a joyous celebration of an often overlooked Spanish folk tradition, and a well-crafted educational tour, vividly told with passion, colourful costumes and, of course, song.

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The Blurb:

A celebration of Spain’s vibrant cultural and political history, brought to life with a queer twist. Practically unknown abroad, Copla is the dramatic, heartfelt music that shaped Spain’s early musicals – perfect for anyone who loves laughing, crying and singing along to a diva’s melodramatic refrain. Once censored under Franco’s regime, Copla’s raw emotion and soaring melodies are reimagined for a new, intercultural generation. Join a journey through the upheavals of a queer migrant experience: living far from home, translating childhood musical memories and celebrating foreignness through song. ‘Beautiful, funny, heartwarming’ ***** (AdventuresInTheatreland.com).