There’s always a comedian. Actually, in Edinburgh at the moment, there are thousands of them: not just in person, but staring down from every railing poster and high-rental billboard like fashionably scruffy politburo members, dictating your choice of entertainment.

In Secret Weapons, Dickson Telfer’s excellent one-man drama,  Trevor, the class clown, is the eye of a perfect disruptive storm of a class. Every teacher’s worst nightmare, the collegiate collection of compulsive mobile phone botherers and the easily bored is instantly recognisable whichever side of the lectern you’ve been on.

Enter the Mephistophelean Alex Ricketts, with his secret weapons for our hapless hero to control the class with.  But every sword, secret or otherwise,  has a double edge…

Telfer plays the parts of the teacher, assorted students, and Ricketts, brilliantly. He is ably abetted by his long term musical collaborator, Will Treeby, and a number of strategically placed audience plants. The razor-sharp script, from his own story, is full of  inventive dialogue and laugh-out-loud humour. I can’t recommend this piece enough.

Ignore the overpriced comedians. Go and see Dickson Telfer do something genuinely funny and insightful instead. It’s on till Sunday 26th at Gryphon Venues, at the Point Hotel.

One thing though. If you’re a teacher, don’t try this at home…