The Gentle Shepherd was first published in 1725, going on to become Allan Ramsay’s most celebrated work.  This site provides details of the major performances from 1729 up to the present day.

Visit the project website

The Gentle Shepherd Performances website showing a section of the interactive map and the filters for the tabular view of the data

As part of the AHRC funded Collected Works of Allan Ramsay project the team behind the new Edition is conducting research into the reception of Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), considering how Ramsay has been remembered, celebrated, commemorated, and generally received since his death.  This includes a database of the performances of The Gentle Shepherd, Ramsay’s most celebrated work.  Research to date has shown that The Gentle Shepherd was a truly global phenomenon, beginning with the first performance in Edinburgh in January 1729. It was hugely popular in London before reaching the United States of America in the 1780s. By the next century there were performances in Australia. Edinburgh theatres would often advertise it as ‘The National Pastoral.’ The database currently features details of almost 700 performances from across the globe, dating from 1729 to 2018.  Performance data can be browsed via a timeline, an interactive map or via a table that provides numerous filter options.  The resource also includes several essays that discuss significant performances of the work.