FOOLISH NOTION

(Preview from Edinburgh Evening News, 26th December 2008)

Hail Caledonia! Anyone who has watched the advert with Sir Sean, Lulu and a host of Scottish celebrities singing the praises of their homeland will tell you that 2009 is the year of Homecoming Scotland, the 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth.

Over the next 12 months more than 200 events will mark the occasion, one of the first being Oor Rabbie, a new work which finds a couple of familiar facesworking under a new banner.

In January, Andy Cannon of Wee Stories Theatre Company and musician Wendy Weatherby join forces in a new partnership called Foolish Notion, intent on introducing ­­– or in some cases reintroducing – young and not so young audiences to the life and works of Robert Burns.

Working together to create a unique theatrical experience, the folk singer and storyteller will relate Burns’ tale through live music and a witty banter of his best-known works.

Cannon says, “We like to think of Foolish Notion as a band that tells stories, even though there are just the two of us – although we do hope to add more musicians as it develops.”

Oor Rabbie is the culmination of a friendship that started almost 34 years ago after the pair met at Broughton High.

“Wendy was a couple of years above me,” says Cannon, “but we worked together for the first time in 1975. The school did Cinderella for Christmas – she was the Fairy Godmother and I was Buttons. We were reunited when she joined the band for the Wee Stories production, Arthur.”

Oor Rabbie started life as a storytelling piece developed by Wee Stories for the National Museum of Scotland back in 2003. Then entitled Tae A Mouse And A’ That, the piece was a promenade performance devised to make the work of Burns more accessible to school children of all ages. Five years on, the work has evolved into Oor Rabbie, part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s Burnsfest programme.

“I always thought that it would be wonderful to include some music in that piece. Then Wendy and I worked together on Arthur and on a play for Wee Stories called Tam O’ Shanter. That was fine, but I wanted to return to the museum piece which was more storytelling and having a laugh.”

Cannon’s love of Burns began at the tender age of 11, recalling, “There was one teacher – we called him Noddy Manson – who got us into Burns. He was so enthusiastic about it that it became fun. He never made us learn, we just did because it was so enjoyable.”

Cannon was reunited with his old Blackhall Primary teacher during the original run of Tae a Mouse And A’ That. He recalls, “I was doing the show in Dumfries one Saturday morning and realised that there was this very elderly gentleman in the back row who seemed to be enjoying it and, at the end of the show, blow me if it wasn’t Noddy Manson.”

It was Manson’s passion for Burns and the passion of Burns for all Scottish music and poetry that Cannon believes fired his own love affair with the Bard.

“I’m a big fan of Rabbie, I’m as passionate about his spirit as I am his work. So much of his work is just so funny and bawdy.”

He adds, “I believe that if children are exposed to people who are enthusiastic about something, that’s one of the best ways to make it relevant.”

Liam Rudden

Wendy appeared on the Trafalgar Square plinth, as part of the Antony Gormley project, on Friday 9th October from 8 - 9pm.

See her performance at:

http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Wendy_W

DIARY