Linda McLean 
Glory on Earth (NHB Modern Plays) 

'Whom shall I believe? And who shall be judge?'
Tuesday, 19 August, 1561, 9 a.m. Through the fog a ship arrives in Leith docks, and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, steps ashore. She is eighteen and on her young shoulders rest the hopes of the Catholic establishment of Europe.
The nation that receives her has just outlawed her church and its practices. Its leader is the radical cleric and protestant reformer, John Knox. Both believe themselves ordained by God. Both believe themselves beloved by their people. Both were exiled and returned home … but only one can make Scotland their own.
Linda Mc Lean's Glory on Earth premiered at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in May 2017, in a production directed by Lyceum Artistic Director David Greig.

About the author

Linda Mc Lean is a Scottish playwright based in Glasgow. Her plays include the award-winning Every Five Minutes, Any Given Day, Sex & God, strangers, babies, Shimmer, Riddance, One Good Beating, Thingummy Bob, and an adaptation of Alice Munro’s The View From Castle Rock for Stellar Quines and the EIBF.


Linda was the Creative Fellow at Edinburgh University’s Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities in 2011. She was Chair of the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland from 2008–2015, and she is an artistic associate of Magic Theatre, San Francisco.


An anthology of her work, translated into French by Sarah Vermande and Blandine Pelissiér, was published in 2015 by Actes Sud-Papiers.