ED2011 5/5 Reviews ED2011 Theatre Reviews

Robert Burns: Not In My Name (Kevin Williamson)

By | Published on Thursday 11 August 2011

Inspiring, provocative and thoughtful, Robert Burns’ radical lyricism is artfully contextualised alongside stunning and visually hypnotic multimedia. A backdrop of contemporary images, taken from the last hundred years, illuminates Burns’ later poems, endowing them with modern day gravitas. Insightful parallels are drawn between Burns’ revolutionary lines and events such as The Nuremburg Rally, the Iraq War, and the recent News Of The World phone-hacking scandal. Short film interludes act like fragmentary glimpses of memory, enabling a kind of Burns-eye view. Kevin Williamson’s earthy and expressive readings invigorate and stir, and even those less familiar with Robert Burns easily lose themselves in the rich, lilting rhythm and characteristic vernacular. An intensely beautiful, expertly assembled and thought-provoking experience in Scottish poetry.

National Library Of Scotland, 4 – 12 (not 13 – 23), 24 – 28 Aug, 7.00pm (8.00pm), £5.00 – £8.00, fpp293.
tw rating 5/5
[jlb]

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