#EdFringe: Burns: A Lost Legacy – Review
★★★
A lovely new musical about a Scottish family moving to Australia, fighting for their family legacy and how grief can tear a family apart.
A small cast of four and a piano tell this simple tale at the Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre Basement. Following descendants of Robert and Jean Burns (Robert burns is widely regarded as The Bard of Scotland and the country’s national poet), Sarah Hutchinson (nee Burns) (Played by Bethany Tennick), and her quest to ensure that her grandfather’s property and royalties are rightly given to the family. How much of her future does she sacrifice to preserve her family’s past? All of it.
She and her husband Berkeley (played by Samuel Stewart) travel to a new life in Australia but lose their young children in the sea crossing to illness, and try to start again in Australia with their newborn. However, Sarah gives up her life as a mother and wife and flees to the UK again to fight the publisher and escape her grief and the reminders that her journey to a new life lead to so much loss and pain.
The story’s strength is the depiction of a woman trying to undertake work in a man’s world, and processing her grief and mourning of her children. She appears cold and distant to her daughter Annie (played by Nina Gray), resulting in massive fractures in their relationship.
Lovely duets and a spectacular quartet during “I Wish I Was Enough” show off the talented vocals of the four, and the gorgeous harmonies. The music is strong and very moving, and the songs while quiet simple in nature, convey a lot of emotion and the struggles and journey of this one family.
It’s not a hugely engaging story for a musical, however it’s simplicity lends to its beauty and its themes of loss and letting go, starting over, who remembers us and dealing with family troubles. Fearless Players have also created the sister show Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard which chronicles Jean Burns meeting her husband’s mistress and his death, and we meet Sarah as a child. It feels a little bit like I’ve watched the sequel before watching the first part of the story, or that a lot of the show has assumed some knowledge of Robert Burns’ work and legacy (this Aussie girl knows nae words to Aud Lang Syne). I’m excited to see whether after seeing Amour, my view on this show might change or add context, and if it does, I’ll be sure to add a reflection here.
The story could use a little bit more clarity in terms of timelines and narrative, as the show is a little vague, but it has real potential to be a strong and fully-fledged offering with further orchestration and a few more voices. I would be very interested in seeing this staged as a fully fledged double feature style viewing of Armour and Burns side by side, as a celebratory evening of the women in the Burns family and these moments of Scottish history and culture, and will be following what Fearless Players do next with both shows and in the future.
Burns: A Lost Legacy plays at Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre Basement on alternating days to Armour until 25 August. More info.
