REVIEW: WE ARE IAN, In Bed With My Brother, EdFringe 2026, ★★★★

It might be the best pre-show I’ve ever seen. Pulsing projection, graphical variations of the title WE ARE IAN plastered in flashing rotations. The music is blasting louder than in some clubs, and already people’s heads are bopping up and down. It’s a bit like the opening titles to Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void. It’s very much like the temporal subject of In Bed With My Brother’s debut show, the 80s and 90s rave scene. Here they are bringing it back, for three nights only, ten years on — and the result is a nostalgic return to their play about nostalgia — an oddly touching midnight show which is as empathetic as it is adrenaline-pumped.

In Bed With My Brother are something of Fringe legends right about now. Their Philosophy of the World was certainly one of last year’s Fringe darlings. Their success all kicked off with this one back in 2016, and they made it whilst they were all sleeping in the same bed and chatting to a member of the company’s step-dad Ian. He’s the protagonist of this one, represented through a flickering lightbulb and reminiscing on old times. 

A lesser version of this show would lampoon Ian. Here, the company give him tremendous respect. His is a hugely moving monologue; in some ways a diatribe on what’s been lost, in others a beautifully hopeful memory. This is a revival, and it gives Ian’s monologues extra poignancy in some moments. At one point he tells the girls to enjoy making the art whilst they still can. They’re still here, and there are always sacrifices involved in that, but it’s a moment which really feels like looking back and seeing they’ve achieved something. 

The company is formed by Dora Lynn, Nora Alexander and Kat Cory. Their role is deceptively simple here — to dance like no-ones watching, wearing matching outfits and matching space buns. They in fact put in a very sophisticated performance which is always inviting and also strangely vulnerable. They are relating to someone very close to them and conveying his sadness and his ecstasy through movement. They are expressive — joy is more than joyful, fear more than fear, dancing a release like it must have been in the “olden days”. 

That’s the thing about this show. Once you feel like you’re getting its measure, a massive f-cked-up portrait of Margaret Thatcher is blasted onto the screen. They politicise and amplify a life that would have otherwise been unimportant — but it is a life that has lived through a moment of ritual and rite. There was a moment in this country’s history where music and drugs transcended politics and created a new tribe. It had its own issues – maybe they’re not so visible here, even though the company somewhat explores the comedown as well as the rhythms of the night. Ultimately though, this is a fierce case for community, and our individual right to it. What a privilege to see this company go back to it — and what a debut. Anything that ends with the entire audience dancing as one is brilliant theatre. Fantastic.

Performances of WE ARE IAN have concluded at Edinburgh Fringe 2026. It was performed at Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard from 14-16 August at 23:00 (60 mins).