Scots stars line up to perform for visitors of the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum

Aug 6 2010 by Yonnie McInnes, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

ACTOR and film star Brian Cox – who has appeared in many films including Rob Roy, Braveheart and The Bourne Supremacy – has recorded Burns’ most famous poem Tam O’ Shanter.

It’s one of four audio-visual interpretations commissioned from London based Spiral Productions by the National Trust for Scotland, which will regularly feature within the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

Visitors will also enjoy hearing Scots singer Eddi Reader, whose evocative rendition of Burns’ beautiful song My Love is Like a Red Red Rose features in another audio-visual presentation, as will a contribution from Scots film and TV actor Bill Paterson, who reads Burns’ poem To A Mouse which will have animated visuals.

Nat Edwards, RBBM director, said: “Every hour, six big, doubled-sided screens will be lowered down from the ceiling of the main exhibition hall and one of these short films will play.

“We still have to confirm the person who will narrate the fourth film ‘A Man’s a Man for a’ That’ which will be presented in a surprising and very modern way to get over Burns’ very contemporary message that all men are equal.”

A Man’s a Man will be a multi-screen film, with accompanying audio of the poem featuring several actors and actresses in varying degree of modest undress, highlighting that every man is the same underneath when the layers of societal conceits are peeled away.

And Brian revealed that he is delighted to be involved with the project.

He said: “To me, Robert Burns was the greatest lyricist bar none. I first encountered the potency of his work as a 19-year-old actor and I can honestly say that it has never left me. There’s something about his writing – its breadth and scale – which is all embracing. I’m thrilled to be involved in the museum and look forward to seeing its representation of the energy and beauty of Burns’ work to a new generation.”

The museum – the National Trust for Scotland’s largest, most ambitious project to date – will be Scotland’s first major new museum to be built since the Shetland Museum three years ago.

The National Trust for Scotland is fundraising for the final £1m for the new facility.

Please visit www.nts.org.uk/Burns/CelebrateBurns