There’s a theatrical flavour to the June 2017 issue of Whispering Gallery. We explore the worlds of Shakespeare and Dorothy Dunnett by following their ‘lines of sight’, comparing and contrasting the two authors’ ways of seeing, and the things that hold their attention, and we examine Shakespeare’s Othello, drawing out the echoes with Dorothy Dunnett’s characterisation of Umar.

This issue contains the overviews, talks and photographs from April’s Dunnett Weekend, as well as the essay that won the 2016 academic History Prize, which is about the power of documents in the 15th century (illustrated in the magazine by a scene from Scottish writer Rona Munro’s ‘James Plays’).

The front cover image of Mary, Queen of Scots and her son, James VI and I of Scotland and England reflects the Sunday outing to Linlithgow Palace, one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland.