National Theatre of Scotland announces programme for Edinburgh Festival Fringe, marking 20 years of NTS Edinburgh Festival presentations.

Returning to the stage following a critically acclaimed and award-nominated Scotland-wide tour in 2025, Martin O’Connor’s 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.

Through the Shortbread Tin will open in Edinburgh at the Scottish Storytelling Centre as part of the Made in Scotland Programme at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Friday 7 August 2026.

Twenty years since the internationally acclaimed production of Black Watch premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Through the Shortbread Tin marks National Theatre of Scotland’s 42nd production at the Edinburgh festivals, including last year’s Edinburgh International Festival sell out success, Make It Happen.  

Through the Shortbread Tin is remounted for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Joanna Bowman. Martin will be joined on stage by Josie Duncan and Iona Mairead, distinctive Gaelic choral singers, singing original songs composed by Oliver Searle.

Through the Shortbread Tin was nominated for Best New Play in both the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2025 and the UK Theatre Awards 2025.

National Theatre of Scotland is delighted to be part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations, as well by being part of their specially curated Festival Fringe programme, the centre piece of their year’s anniversary offering.

Full information about Through the Shortbread Tinhere. 

Opening in Edinburgh at the Scottish Parliament as part of the Festival of Politics and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2026, One Hundred Voices is an interactive installation responding to real life stories of care experienced people. The stories were recorded forCaring Scotland, a three-year listening project, led by acclaimed playwright Nicola McCartney documenting and recording the lives of care experienced people in Scotland.

One Hundred Voices is created by a leading team of Scottish artists and theatre-makers with design by Karen Tennant, lighting design by Kai Fischer, sound design by Niroshini Thambar, script by Nicola McCartney and dramaturgy by Roxana Cole.

This interactive installation transforms oral history into artistic encounters and asks the audience to imagine together a more compassionate Scotland where every child is cherished, every voice amplified, every future honoured. It serves as an artistic act of recognition and celebration of the one hundred testimonies recorded through the Caring Scotland project.

The experience is audio narrated by Scott Kyle and Genna Allan. Both are actors who are also involved in the wider Caring Scotland project. Scott Kyle is one of the Ten Portraits subjects and Genna worked in the project team during the story collection phase. Both are care experienced.

A National Theatre of Scotland project in partnership with Who Cares? Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, funded with an award from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Supported by The Weir Charitable Trust and The Rayne Foundation

With The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support, the project has been open to all members of the care experienced community across Scotland to contribute to and take part in.

More details on the Caring Scotland project can be found here.