Through the Shortbread Tin
Author(s):
Martin O’Connor
Company:
National Theatre of Scotland
The story of the greatest literary hoax of all time.
In 1760, Scottish poet James Macpherson set the world ablaze with stories of the third-century Scottish bard, Ossian. This tartan-trimmed tale of Highland history spread far and wide, capturing the imagination of thousands—but was it built on a deception?
In 2025, Scottish poet Martin O’Connor decides to revisit Macpherson’s epic and begins to question his own relationship with Scottish culture. The sporrans, the stags, the shortbread—do these ‘gift-shop’ images of Scotland hold us back or bring us forward? What does it mean to be authentic, and is the truth sometimes better told in a lie?