The Wee Review

Bróccán Tyzack-Carlin is an award winning comedian, performance poet and writer from Hartlepool. His critically acclaimed solo shows combine spoken word, stand-up and storytelling, and have toured the UK’s literary and comedy festival circuits. His debut show ‘Don’t Bother’ received the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Kendal Calling, the Union Chapel and many back rooms of pubs.

As plays within a play go, this production certainly follows the script. The play with music about a play with music does exactly what it says on the tin and the concept beautifully sets up a star vehicle for the original Eponine, Frances Ruffelle, to deliver a lung-busting musical performance that showcases the very best of London’s West End in Pitlochry.

A steady mist moved through Edinburgh on Saturday evening, softening the edges of the city as thousands gathered beneath the Castle walls to celebrate more than three decades of Garbage. The Strathendrick Pipe Band set the tone in style, marching to the front of the stage and filling the esplanade with the sounds of ‘Scotland the Brave’ and ‘Flower of Scotland’ as the crowd sang along with passion and enthusiasm.

Kate Dehnert is an Australian comedian, writer and actor. She was a staff comedy writer for BBC Studios, writing for a wide variety of shows for BBC Radio 4. She has written for Channel Ten’s The Project and ABC’s Get Krack!n. She has performed comedy live at several Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, Melbourne Fringes, on Triple J, ABC Radio, at Splendour in the Grass and Women of Letters. Kate is bringing her ‘breakup show to end all breakup shows’ ‘Echo’ to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Comic actor, director, writer and general dapper man about town Richard Ayoade’s humour occupies a unique territory. He’s a perma-bemused, quietly underwhelmed presence in a world that favours the narcissist, the loud, the interminably sharp-elbowed. His pithy introversion, happily, extends to his books, too. In essence, he follows oddball performers who create their own worlds within worlds, such as Ivor Cutler, Vic and Bob, and Noel Fielding.

Ding ding! It’s round two for those splendidly named psych explorers Panda Bear and Sonic Boom – aka Noah Lennox and Pete Kember to their mums. Coasting on the back of their sumptuously kitsch debut Reset, the duo adopt an “ain’t broke, don’t fix” approach to their second outing, bathing the tracklist in more of that ’60s R&B boy-group whirl. It’s an easy listen in the best sense, keeping the rudder steady without disturbing the equilibrium established on their inaugural effort.

Texan dream pop band Holy Wave have been nibbling at the hems of mainstream recognition for over fifteen years now, which kind of makes me wonder what they have to do to have their place carved out in the indie firmament. Perhaps this album – lucky number seven – will help. It’s wonderful. Recorded in Mexico, it’s got some of the country’s spice and hazy sunshine. But it’s porous too, with a plethora of influences in its creation.

Anna Leong Brophy is a writer, actor, and comedian. She is perhaps best know to Fringe audiences as half of sketch duo EGG, with Emily Lloyd-Saini. On screen, she has played warrior Tamar Kir-Bataar as part of the main cast of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, and she appeared as Bryony in series 2 of Channel 4’s Back, alongside David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

Gabey Lucas is a Seattle-based stand-up. Formerly the humor columnist for The Ubyssey in Vancouver and now a mostly-retired SB Nation writer, she’s worked as a comedian, writer, and producer for over a decade, performing from New Zealand to New Orleans to North Macedonia including at Hell Yes Fest, Rip City Comedy Festival, and the Ohrid Summer Comedy Marathon. She debuted at the Fringe in 2024 with ‘A Berkshire Boar Walks Into a Bar (and Gets Shot in the Face)’.

Harvey Cobb is a comedian, juggler, and circus performer from the North of England. After spending his teenage years honing his skills as a street performer, he relocated to the Netherlands to formally study his craft. In 2022, he graduated from Codarts, Rotterdam, with a degree in Circus. His graduation act Something About Pink earned him the prestigious BNG Circus Prize, an award recognizing the most promising young circus talent in the Netherlands.