Time Magazine called him the “Laureate of American Lowlife”. Charles Bukowski was anti-social, alcoholic and unapologetic about both. The Los Angeles writer, who died in 1994, equated inebriation with liberation.

He may have found a historical soulmate in fellow poet Robert Burns, who wrote that “whisky and freedom gang the gither”. But Bukowski would have snorted at attempts by the state to separate him from his bottle. The Scottish government’s efforts to make us drink less would have been met with a dirty rebuke from the father of the dirty realism school of literature.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that a celebration of Bukowski’s life features in a government-backed initiative to showcase home-produced work at the Edinburgh Festival.

Barflies, by the award-winning Grid Iron Theatre Company, is the centrepiece of Made in Scotland, which promotes a selection of drama and dance at the Fringe. It is financially backed by the SNP government’s Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund, a £6m scheme to address concerns that the world’s biggest arts festival has neglected talent on its own doorstep.

Featuring the Scottish actors Gail Watson and Keith Fleming, Barflies is described on the official Made in Scotland brochure as looking at “the profound liberation of alcohol, its opening up of corners of sexuality and mental activity”. It adds, somewhat as an afterthought, “as well as its more undesirable effects”.

The action takes place in The Barony Bar and should make exciting theatre, even if it does play down the danger of liver disease and alcohol-related brain damage — two areas where Scotland enjoys an international reputation.

Its inclusion does, however, underline the SNP government’s determination to avoid accusations of artistic interference. Made in Scotland is a partnership between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, The Federation of Scottish Theatre and The Scottish Arts Council. Work was selected by an independent panel of experts which most certainly did not include the culture minister, Mike Russell.

Does he now regret keeping himself at arm’s length? Isn’t Barflies a political embarrassment? “Not at all,” he says. “If we were selecting a programme of things that only conformed to our manifesto, I’m not sure anyone would go along and see it. If you took that view you could end up objecting to everything.”

He points out that another piece in the Made in Scotland programme, Trilogy, a “celebration of modern feminism” by Nic Green, features 50 naked female volunteers dancing on stage. It’s unlikely to be a favourite with either the Roman Catholic Church or the Muslim community, with whom the SNP leadership has tried to build good relationships.

Russell’s extensive knowledge and strong views on the arts led some to speculate that he would be a “cultural commissar” when he was appointed earlier this year. When the Scottish Expo Fund was announced, some muttered about parochialism.

That is certainly not the case with the Made in Scotland selection for 2009, which mainly addresses universal issues. Susurrus, by the brilliant writer-director David Leddy and set in the Royal Botanical Gardens, is loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. It requires audiences to wear headphones as they stroll from memorial bench to glasshouse. Another Leddy work, White Tea, promises to be an equally sensuous experience that will “cocoon” its audience among “white paper prayer flags and Japanese origami birds”. The Scottish Dance Theatre performs A Visitation, by the Norwegian choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen. Dudendance Theatre explores infinity and evolution with Spaceman, which questions “what it is that makes us human”.

Anyone who feared it would be a couthy collection of tales from Clydeside and croft can relax. It may have been created here, but its inspiration is global. Russell describes the programme as “quite strong”. If this sounds like faint praise, he insists otherwise. He launched the the Scottish Dance Theatre programme and is impressed with the company. Susurrus also stands out for him because “I am interested in the links between environment and culture”.