Hats off to the National Library of Scotland for their professional approach to publicity for this show. Their posters and flyers (above) look great. The NLS Fringe programme features one other show: ‘Piaf’ – which is on at the NLS during my days off (14th-20th Aug at 7pm). Christine Bovill, who sings the Edith Piaf songs, has a gorgeous sensual voice and the show promises to be a bit special.
If you’re going past the NLS on George IV Bridge I’d seriously recommend checking out the ‘Banned Books’ exhibition. (It’s free.) This is a fascinating history of censorship through the ages. I was especially intrigued by a large leather-bound book on display from the days of the Spanish Inquisition. The book was concerned with republicanism in the 16th Century and lies open at pages where the Inquisitors have scored out sentences they disagreed with.
Also in the Banned Books exhibition is a book by our very own Robert Burns. Aye, our national poet is in there among such esteemed company as the Marquis De Sade, Alex Trocchi, Thomas Paine, Nabokov, Gay Times, Linda Lovelace and DH Lawrence.
Incidentally, the Burns book is displayed open at a poem featured in ‘Not In My Name’. If you want to know which poem …. you’ll have to visit the Banned Books exhibition!
Robert Burns: Not In My Name 