For most people, a delayed train leads to nothing but frustration and missed appointments. But for María Garcia, creator of Lola: A Flamenco Love Story, a four-hour technical fault ended in quite a different result. ‘I finished the book I was reading during the first hour, so after that I was sitting on the train with nothing to do,’ recalls Garcia. ‘Then I took out a notebook and pen and started writing. The whole story for Lola came to me and I kept writing for three hours. Then, when I finally stopped and put my notebook away, the train continued on its way. That felt like a sign to me, I thought “I have to do this.”’

And do it she has. This new dance musical will have a three-week run at the Fringe, with Garcia taking on the titular role, backed by eight other flamenco dancers, five musicians and two singers. But had it not been for that faltering journey, the show may never have happened. Prior to boarding the train, Garcia had found herself in a bit of a slump. Having moved from her native Germany to Seville in 2016 for a year, she came home ready to inject new life into the flamenco school she had set up in 2010 in Frankfurt. ‘I’d had this wonderful year in Spain and was feeling so inspired,’ she says. ‘I knew I could make a different kind of show, but I didn’t. There was just a lack of energy.’

The train delay changed all that, but the outpouring of creativity that found its way into her notepad had been a long time coming. Based in the 1960s, Lola is the tale of a recently widowed Spanish woman who leaves behind the country and children she loves to earn money in London. Choreographed by Ursula López (guest artist with Ballet Nacional de España) and directed by Garcia, the show may be a work of fiction, but its emotional heart is rooted in reality. In 1965, Garcia’s own grandfather emigrated from Spain to Germany looking for work and was joined shortly afterwards by Garcia’s father, aged just 17 at the time. 

‘My grandfather missed his wife and other children too much so moved back to Spain, but my father stayed and built a life in Germany,’ she explains. ‘He found the culture, weather and language all so different though, and it was difficult to make friends. So he stayed in his own community, going to Spanish festivals and church; it was like living in a parallel world. And, of course, I grew up listening to his stories.’ Not only that, but Garcia’s own experience of living in Germany in a Spanish family informed her portrayal of Lola in the show.

‘When Lola first arrives in London, it’s very difficult,’ says Garcia. ‘There’s a cultural barrier and lots of misunderstandings because of the language. She feels like a foreigner, and I can relate to that because I grew up between two cultures. At home I lived the Spanish culture and outside I lived the German culture. I was integrated but I remember I didn’t feel Spanish or German, I was something in between. When we went to Spain in the summer I was called “Maria the German” and in Germany it was always “Maria the Spanish”. So I decided to embrace both and it’s wonderful: I’m a fusion.’

The year in Seville prompted an even greater period of reflection. Garcia began questioning not only her own identity, but how others might feel when moving from one country to another. And so Lola was born. ‘I thought I have to do something with this feeling because there’s definitely something moving within me,’ she recalls. ‘A sense of where do I come from and where do I belong? And what does immigration do to people? Because there’s a difference between leaving your country because you want to go somewhere else, and leaving because things are not okay where you live and you have to go.’

Lola: A Flamenco Love Story, Pleasance EICC, 30 July–24 Aug, 7.30pm.