It takes a lot ae imagination tae tell a true story.
Martin O’Connor’s National Theatre show skewers the tartan tat stereotypes of Scotland…
Ostensibly the story of James Macpherson, who gathered Highland folk stories for his Tales of Ossian, Through The Shortbread Tin also traces Martin’s relationship with his Gaelic-speaking grandfather and his lack of Scottish history knowledge. The gift shop images of our country, it turns out, might be holding us back and may not be entirely true…
Striding onto a peak Scottish set with a cardboard Monarch of the Glen stag, wearing full Highland regalia, Martin launches into his epic exploration with a gusto that doesn’t abate. He’s accompanied by a trio of incredible Gaelic singers who set the atmosphere nicely for some potted Scottish history and Macpherson’s biography. It’s a wide-ranging tale, taking in ‘Scottish cringe’, Gaelic persecution, and how our history was ‘stolen, repackaged and sold back to us at a premium’.
Martin doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable parts of our past, taking in colonialism and slavery as well as the Clearances. It’s shot through with humour however, with standup-style asides into a mic about everything from the Darien scheme to the poor mental and physical state of Scottish men. Ultimately, it asks who history is for: wealthy men like Johnson and Boswell, or working-class boys like O’Connor being sneered at in the Kelvingrove? Whatever that story is, it’s always embellished to some extent; perhaps our own retelling is how we reclaim it.
‘What’s the point of being a great Scot if you’re not doing anything great?’ Martin asks at the beginning. With Through The Shortbread Tin, I think he might just have pulled it off.
*****
Through The Shortbread Tin is at Scottish Storytelling Centre from 6-31 Aug (not 12/15/19/26th) at 16:45.