'Whaur's Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo?': Glasgow Revives 1756 Heckle

The most famous heckle in Scottish theatre history — "Whaur's yer Wullie Shakespeare noo?" — returns to the stage at Òran Mór in Glasgow, where Brian Logan's new comedy runs until 3 October before touring until 17 October.

The shout dates from 1756. After a performance of John Home's tragedy Douglas at Edinburgh's Canongate playhouse, an audience member declared the Scottish playwright superior to England's most revered dramatist. The cry of nationalist triumph has echoed through Scottish theatre lore ever since.

Posterity has not agreed with that verdict. Shakespeare's standing has only grown in the 270 years since, while Home's name has faded. Yet the performance of Douglas, as Logan presents it, remains a symbolic flashpoint in Scottish cultural history.

What is the show about?

Logan — writer, director and Guardian comedy critic — frames Douglas and its excited reception as an exemplar of the national and religious schisms that have played out in Scotland ever since. His production is a shouty comedy touching on nationalism, religion and the power of theatre.

The review identifies Douglas as one of those theatrical events that meant more politically than it did artistically. The 1756 production mattered less for its dramatic craft than for what its reception revealed about Scotland's relationship with England, and with itself.

Where did the heckle come from?

The exclamation came, according to the account, in a moment of nationalist zeal. An audience member at the Canongate playhouse in Edinburgh could not contain the comparison: Home, a Scotsman, had outdone Stratford's Bard on his own terms. The question became shorthand for Scottish cultural confidence — and for the debates that confidence provoked.

Logan's title takes the heckle verbatim. The show uses that historical moment as its springboard, asking how theatre, faith and national identity have intersected in Scotland from the 18th century to the present.

Where can audiences see it?

Whaur's Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo? plays at Òran Mór, Glasgow, until 3 October. It then tours until 17 October, giving audiences beyond Glasgow the chance to judge whether Home's cause — and the argument his 1756 admirer started — still resonates.