Photos: James Clements' THE BURNS PROJECT Concludes Sold-Out Edinburgh Fringe Run

THE BURNS PROJECT, written and performed by James Clements (The Diana Tapes at the Edinburgh Fringe and Stockwell Playhouse (London), Guac at the Public (New York), At the Barricades at MITU580 (New York)), ended its sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run at the Georgian House in Charlotte Square, with accompaniments of music from the acclaimed instrumentalist Lisa Rigby. The show received four start ratings from The Guardian (“[an] excellent production…Burns is embodied with gusto”), The Scotsman (“Clements…up close and eloquent, delivering Burns' exquisite language with natural flair…[a] magnetic performance”), Fest Magazine (“a brilliantly theatrical portrayal”) and was one of The Herald’s Top 10 Shows of the Edinburgh Fringe (“immaculately designed, smartly staged”).

Joined by the multi-award-winning Cora Bissett (June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music, and Me; Orphans; What Girls Are Made Of) as director, and created as the Inaugural Artist Commission from the National Trust for Scotland, Clements pieces together rarely-before-seen writings and recently digitised archival material belonging to The Bard to conjure a complex, irreverent and honest portrait of a seminal Scottish literary figure. Seeking to refresh and expand on existing personifications and representations of the poet, THE BURNS PROJECT vividly brings to life the image of a man full of complexities and contradictions, capable of both deep love and callousness, of great progressiveness and political inconsistencies. It is a story of a man with high ideals, who sometimes fell short of them, with layers of intrigue and mystery - it is the story of an icon, and the story of us all. 

The team features Elle Taylor (lights), Jenny Booth (set/costume), Garry Boyle (sound), Viola Fowler (associate lighting designer) and Mickey Graham (production manager). Tuesday McPhail is producing. After this sold-out Fringe run, the piece will tour National Trust for Scotland properties across the country in November, followed by a US tour in March 2026.