The story of the greatest literary hoax of all time.

Returning to venues across Scotland following a critically acclaimed tour in 2025, Through the Shortbread Tin is a poetic, poignant and playful show, performed in Scots with Gaelic songs, which explores Scottish culture, myths, history and identity.

1760 – Scottish poet James Macpherson sets the world ablaze with stories of the third-century Scottish bard, Ossian. This tartan-trimmed tale of Highland history spreads far and wide, capturing the imagination of thousands – but is it built on deceit?  

2026 – Scottish poet Martin O’Connor reads Macpherson’s epic and questions 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?

Join Martin and Macpherson on an oral odyssey spanning centuries of Scottish history, exploring the myths we tell each other and the stories we tell ourselves. Because ‘It takes a lot ae imagination tae tell a true story.’ 

At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026 at the Scottish Storytelling Centre from 6 to 31 August at 4.45pm. Part of the Made in Scotland Showcase 2026.

Further Scottish tour dates coming soon.

Written and performed by Martin O’Connor
Remount directed by Joanna Bowman
Original production directed by Lu Kemp

A National Theatre of Scotland Production