Robert Burns on the twentieth-century stage

Brown, R. (2021) Robert Burns on the twentieth-century stage. In: Brown, I. and Carruthers, G. (eds.) Performing Robert Burns: Enactments and Representations of the ‘National Bard’. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 120-136. ISBN 9781474457149

Abstract

This chapter analyses the various representations of Robert Burns's life and works in three twentieth-century plays: H. Fletcher Lee's Robert Burns: A Play in Three Acts (1926), Robert Kemp's The Other Dear Charmer (1951) and Tom Wright's There Was a Man (1965). It argues that, contrary to critical consensus, Burns's poems and songs deeply inform these portrayals of his life on the stage; indeed, the chapter finds that representations of Burns by Lee, Kemp and Fletcher influence the poet's reception in literary criticism.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Brown, Dr Rhona
• Authors: Brown, R.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General); P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0441 Literary History; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
• College/School: College of Arts > School of Critical Studies > Scottish Literature
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• ISBN: 9781474457149

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
173717		Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century: Correspondence & Poetry	Gerard Carruthers	Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)	AH/P004946/1	Arts - Scottish Literature