Big Burns Supper back after 'a bit of a beating'

The Bootleg Beatles are playing at this year's Big Burns Supper

The first in-person edition of the Big Burns Supper festival in three years is being held in Dumfries.

The event has not been held in front of fans since 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

It is returning with a new format of four one-off Le Haggis cabaret evenings at the Loreburn Hall.

They will be headlined by Craig Charles, Skerryvore, Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5 and The Bootleg Beatles.

The Big Burns Supper has taken place for more than a decade and is traditionally held around the anniversary of Robert Burns' birth.

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This year it will see four evening events on 13, 14, 20 and 21 January along with two family-friendly editions on 15 and 22 January.

Executive producer Graham Main said they were glad to be back - even if in a more streamlined format.

"For the last couple of years we have created digital programmes," he said.

"We created a digital Burns Night which was good - we reached a global audience - but it has been a while since we came into contact with our own audience."

The "recovery year" Big Burns Supper is a more streamlined event

He said it had been a tough time for the festival with a huge number of events cancelled.

"The events industry in the last two or three years has taken a bit of a beating and Big Burns Supper is no different," he said.

"We are an independent, grassroots organisation and there have been moments when we have been quite at risk.

"So our plans for this year are based on us mitigating that risk and being considerate of the fact the Big Burns Supper happens in the middle of winter which is already a risk in itself."

However, he said he hoped the audience would still feel rewarded by the return of the festival after such lengthy gap.