‘Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo?’ reviews John Home’s Douglas
Brian Logan’s new comedy revisits the 1756 Edinburgh performance of John Home’s Douglas, remembered for an audience member’s nationalist claim that Home surpassed Shakespeare. At Òran Mór in Glasgow, the production presents the play’s reception as a window into Scotland’s political and religious divisions, while examining theatre’s wider influence.
“Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo?” revisits the 18th-century production of John Home’s Douglas, staged at Edinburgh’s Canongate playhouse in 1756. The production is written and directed by Brian Logan, who is also identified as a Guardian comedy critic.
The historical performance is remembered for a nationalist heckle from an audience member who declared Home superior to Shakespeare. The reported cry, “Whaur’s yer Wullie Shakespeare noo?”, has become associated with the reception of Douglas and is described as the most famous heckle in Scottish theatre history.
Logan’s production treats the play and its reception as examples of political and religious divisions in Scotland. The review describes the original theatrical event as having greater symbolic and political importance than artistic influence, while the new work is characterized as a shouty comedy about nationalism, religion and the power of theatre.
The production is being presented at Òran Mór in Glasgow until 3 October and is scheduled to tour until 17 October. The source also notes that Shakespeare has remained more prominent in posterity than Home, despite the historical enthusiasm surrounding Douglas.
THE QUESTIONS THIS EVENT LEAVES BEHIND
What conditions made the audience’s nationalist response possible in 1756?
Whose religious and political interests are represented in the production?
How might the story change if the heckle had not been preserved?
What power does a modern theatre production gain by revisiting a disputed cultural hierarchy?
Who is excluded when Scottish theatrical history is framed through a comparison with Shakespeare?
YOUR QUESTION
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GLOBAL CURIOSITY MAP · SEPTEMBER 2026