Breakfast with Burns

Feeding off the experiences of a half-century playing Scotland's Bard in the theatre and on TV, John Cairney presents an hour of reminiscence, chat and the odd recitation of a Burns poem. While paying due diligence to Burns' own words, the simple format paints a vivid picture of the man in the afternoon of his life, the time he spent in Edinburgh.

Cairney's style is vibrant, flirtatious even, bringing in his audience as he paces round Henderson's cellar cafe. The script cleverly mingles Burns' life with Cairney's, allowing the actor to use anecdotes of playing Burns around the world to give an added dimension to the poems. Whether it is Hugh MacDiarmid's interpretation of a particular line, or a Greyhound bus driver's singing of A Red, Red Rose, each story captures another layer of meaning.

Importantly, Cairney also reveals the mood behind the poems – the expectation of the Address to Edinburgh and the utter sorrow of Ae Fond Kiss – which gives further resonance to words too often recited with little understanding. Although Cairney can turn on the schmaltz at times, this is endearing stuff that cuts through the worst excesses of Burns-worship and is pitched exactly on target for the breakfasting audience.