No to the ‘biscuit tin’ image of Robbie Burns - that was the starting point for a new take on the life of the National Bard.
Perth benefits from near first view of a thrilling drama and dance production from the National Theatre of Scotland created by legendary actor Alan Cumming and internationally renowned choreographer Steven Hoggett.
Currently being performed in Perth Theatre until tomorrow (Saturday 20) night, Burn goes beyond the poetry to focus on the man himself - his poverty, his personal tragedy, his struggles with mental health and his spectacular success.
It’s a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland, New York City’s The Joyce Theater and Edinburgh International Festival.
Choreographer Steven Hoggett (Black Watch, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) has worked to give Aberfeldy-born Holywood actor Alan Cumming an opportunity to dance “before I get too old for this stuff” as Cummings put it to the PA.
Burn features the music of acclaimed contemporary musician and composer Anna Meredith, with visually arresting set and video design by Ana Inés Jabares Pita and Lewis den Hertog.
Alan is the solo star of this brand-new piece of dance theatre that he helped to write.
“I think all any artist wants to do is tell a story. And If I have one regret in my artistic life it would be that I did not become a dancer and be able to tell a story completely, with my entire body.
“Burn is my attempt at trying to tell more of his story using my whole body,” said the Perthshire-born winner of Tony, Olivier, Scottish BAFTA and CATS awards and a recipient of multiple Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.
“It really is a show made for people to reconsider Rabbie Burns, to smash their preconceptions of this strong male figure,” he said.
“If he was around today, Burns would be a Scottish rock star.
“But you gotta think about how his so called successful life was mired in poverty and today I’m pretty certain he would have been diagnosed as being bi-polar.
“He needed to take other jobs, couldn’t rely just on his writing work, he needed a benefactor, he had children to support.
“There were mood swings that affected his output, mental ill health plagued him and there was this unruly libido. He was dead at 37.”
Burns lived in the era of the Romantic poets, his personal timeline went through the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
Beethoven arranged a Burns poem as a song.
“We wanted to place him in that Romantic tradition,” explained Cumming.
The show poster image has him posed in a black coat on a hilltop, a nod to the famous view-gazing portrait by Caspar David Friedrich.
“All the words that I say in the script of Burn are his own words, taken from his writing. There are themes of courtship, poverty, Scottish identity.
“He dared. ‘Still I dare’ was his motto.”
The opening performance was on August 4, at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh.
Burn is at Perth Theatre Friday 19 and Saturday August 20 at 7.30pm. Age Guidance: 12+ tickets www.horsecross.co.uk
