THE LADY & THE POET

The Lady and the Poet is an audio drama about the friendship between the Scottish poet, Robert Burns and his patron, Frances Dunlop.

In 1786, Robert Burns sent a copy of his book, Poems, Chiefly in The Scottish Dialect, to Mrs Frances Wallace Dunlop of Dunlop in Ayrshire. This was the first edition of his work, printed in Kilmarnock. Mrs Dunlop was so taken with it, and with him, that she became his patron and later, his confidant.

But the voices of these two strong and determined characters still resonate across the years through their letters. Their friendship endured for a decade before their differences drove them apart. The Lady and The Poet focuses on this platonic relationship, which was like no other in Burns’s short and eventful life.

The Lady and The Poet is the second play in An Ayrshire Trilogy, three audio dramas which celebrate Ayrshire and its people. The Trilogy is supported by Creative Scotland.

Find out more about the making of this play by listening to Behind the Scenes on the Journal page.