Edinburgh-based Spanish brothers' Fringe show about mother's suicide to raise awareness

Hard-hitting Edinburgh Fringe show tackles disturbing taboo subject head-on

Two Spanish brothers who have lived in Edinburgh for four years are hoping their Fringe comedy drama about their mother’s suicide will help raise awareness of suicide prevention and get people talking.

LGBT+ siblings Pao, 25, and Mario Ramirez, 27, present ‘Cock O'Clock’ at Leith Depot, August 9-27, 12pm, and at the Three Sisters Laughing Horse, August 14-16 at 3pm. The show, which is recommended for 18 and overs, follows brothers ‘Keroseno’ and ‘Finito’ in their fight for suicide prevention and the search for their true identity.

Pao told the Evening News that the dark comedy about his mother Lola’s suicide in 2010 when he was just 13 has been therapeutic for him and his brother, as well as for audience members.

The brothers with their mother Lola during happier times growing up in Spain.

He said: “It’s a special performance for us as it’s very important for us to give this message to the audience. The majority of people who have come to see our show in the past have experienced this in their life, so there are a lot of tears.

"It is a comedy show, but tragic comedy. It helps us a lot to express the situation we had through comedy.

"It’s our first appearance at the Fringe, we have performed in South America and in Spain. We have done various tours talking about suicide. We think this helps raise awareness of suicide prevention.

"It’s not easy for us to speak about it but we’ve found it therapeutic for us to speak about it. We like to raise awareness about mental health and the arts is the perfect way to raise awareness.

Keroseno (Pao Ramirez) and Finito (Mario Ramirez) have their Fringe show Cock O'Clock in Edinburgh this month.

"A lot of people have experienced what we have, and those who come to our show and watch us online thank us for being open about it.

"In the show we speak about the letter our mother left us. The most important thing we took from the letter was that she wanted us to continue to express ourselves, as we have always been dancing and writing music and poems.

"Through this show we are connecting with a lot of people who have also been affected by suicide and that’s a powerful thing.”

Pao and Mario, who live in Sighthill, have a large presence on social media with more than 250,000 followers, and are currently making a documentary for Spanish TV, as well as releasing a book in October about their experience of suicide.

Pao said: "We made content on TikTok which helped a lot of people dealing with losing a loved one to suicide, so we thought it would be good to do this on stage, face to face.

"We really love living in Edinburgh. The city has helped us deal with our loss and overcome the situation, allowing us to now talk about it online and on stage.

"It wasn’t easy after we lost our mother and some of our family are not happy about us sharing this story.

"Writing the book allows us to share our experience of suicide fully, explaining the situation in first person. The more information we give to people the more they understand it.

"It has been really important for us, it gives us the opportunity to speak about this topic in great detail. We are really happy to do this as nobody wants to speak about it, but if we don’t speak about it nothing will change and people will continue to take their own lives.”