Sporrans and shortbread are symbols of Scotland. But there is so much more culture buried deep and ready to discover.
In 1760, Scottish poet James Macpherson sparked the world’s love of all things thistle and tartan, with stories of the third century bard Ossian.
Spreading far and wide and capturing the imagination of thousands, what started off as intrigue, turned to deception as debates over Ossian’s aesthetic and moral legitimacy surfaced.
Fast forward to 2025 and poet Martin O’Connor revisited Macpherson’s work and began to question his own relationship with Scottish culture resulting in Through the Shortbread Tin.
Designers Emma Bailey and Rachel O’Neill created an oval shaped set backdrop of misty Scotland to depict a shortbread tin, complete with a piece of the crumbly biscuit hanging from the ceiling and over an outsized stag and giant thistle.
So, it’s all very tartan as O’Connor performs the show in Scots, with Gaelic songs composed by Oliver Searle and beautifully sung by Josie Duncan, Claire Frances MacNeil and Màiri Morrison.
O’Connor is an award-winning theatre-maker, performer and poet from Glasgow. He is interested in exploring ideas of voice and identity through theatre and poetry, particularly Scots, Gaelic and verbatim.
He won Scots performer of the year award at this year’s Scots Language Awards and was granted a Gavin Wallace Fellowship in 2018, hosted by Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and the Lyceum Theatre, marking the first stage in his research into James Macpherson and Ossian.
It’s a deeply personal performance which is witty as well as deep and really explores Macpherson’s publication of Fragments of Ancient Poetry, which received great critical and commercial acclaim in its day.
The poems were collected from oral sources around Scotland and were presented as the work of a third century bard, Ossian, dubbed The Homer of the North.
Publication, Fingal and Temora soon followed and together they set the Scottish and European literary world alight.
The ‘Ossian effect’ saw a rise in interest in Scottish and Highland ways of life and an increase in tourism and cultural interest. The impact was immediate and permanent, even if the individual poems eventually fell out of fashion. But soon after publication, debates over Ossian’s aesthetic and moral ‘legitimacy’ surfaced, which plagued the writer and the impact and legacy of the work.
O’Connor brings to life all the goings on in a funny and cultural way and the show is a must for anyone who truly loves Scotland.
The show moves to Cove Burgh Halls, Helensburgh on 25th April, Mareel, Shetland 28th and 29 April and finishes off at Eden Court, Inverness on 1st and 2nd May 2025.
For more information on the show’s dates, times and ticket availability, please visit: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Photographs by Sally Jubb
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