MCALPINE HIGHLIGHTS PREMIER BURNS FESTIVAL
Local MSP Joan McAlpine this week highlighted the upcoming Big Burns Supper Festival in a speech in parliament.
Ms McAlpine used her contribution to a debate on Scotland’s Winter Festivals to praise the event, which has become the premier Burns event despite being launched only in 2012.
This year’s festival will run from the 23rd to the 31st of January, involving 100 shows and a Burns night carnival.
Ms McAlpine, who co-convenes the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Culture, said:
“The Big Burns supper is really special because Dumfries is a living stage and is the place where Burns lived and worked.
“People can visit the pubs that he drank in and the house where he lived. Similarly, the people of Dumfries, including north-west Dumfries, have a direct connection to the people and places who inspired the bard. They speak the same language as him and have the same humanitarian values.
“This year’s festival has been extended to nine days, and includes everything from Nina Nesbitt, to the Undertones, to the contrasting Burns tea dance and the Burns supper burlesque show, ‘Le Haggis’.
“There is a very special treat after the Burns night parade, when Regular Music and the National Theatre of Scotland collaborate on ‘Janis Joplin: Full Tilt’, which has been described by one reviewer as ‘brilliant and intense’.”
Ms McAlpine also highlighted the extension of the festival’s community involvement, which is a hallmark of this year’s programme.
She said:
“This year, the big Burns supper has launched a festival within a festival in north-west Dumfries, in the Lincluden and Lochside areas, in an outreach programme that is aimed at involving residents of those low-income areas. Eight acts, including the award-winning Skerryvore folk-rock band and Canadian vocal group Countermeasure, will put on free pop-up shows in the area, there will be performances of the very popular “Hamish the Haggis” children’s show, and much more is still to be announced “
You can see the full listing of the 2015 Big Burns supper events at www.dgwgo.com/events
