Festival review: The Robert Burns Experience; Monteith’s, High Street

Published on 16/08/2012 15:34

Scotland’s Hi-Life 2011 Best Restaurant award winner is the setting for this intimate show. Carefully balanced between educating and entertaining, acclaimed Scottish actor Jock Ferguson relates a few tales of Burns’ life and work, shares humorous anecdotes about The Bard’s lovers, and even offers a musical interlude.

It’s the sort of thing that could descend into being twee, or drab. What lifts this into a class of its own is the sparkling wit and obvious enjoyment that Ferguson derives from performing. That and his passion for the subject.

A guest is selected to read a passage from one of Burn’s works in Auld Scots. Ferguson translates, while adopting the accent of the guest’s homeland. The result is as funny as any of the top comics presently appearing around the Capital. The end result is a cracking little romp of a show. A three-course lunch and a nip of malt whisky is included in the ticket price.

Rating: * * * *

• Until August 31

DREW McADAM