From 31st May, Scottish Opera’s (SO) much-loved Pop-up Opera tours to audiences all over the country with performances of Gilbert & Sullivan’s celebrated comic operas A Little Bit of The Gondoliers and A Little Bit of The Pirates of Penzance and children’s opera, Puffy MacPuffer and the Crabbit Canals. These 30-minute shows take opera out of the theatre into unexpected places and are ideal for anyone new to the artform.
Joining forces with Scottish Canals, SO brings public Pop-up performances to the Union Canal, Edinburgh, The Falkirk Wheel, Caledonian Canal Centre in Fort Augustus, The Egg Shed at Crinan Canal, on board a barge in partnership with Forth & Clyde Canal Society, and Stockingfield Bridge in Glasgow, in partnership with North United Communities.
Created specifically for five-to-eight-year-olds, with music and words by Marion Christie, Puffy MacPuffer & The Crabbit Canals is a tale of the five waterways that link Scotland from the North Sea to the Atlantic. Each one is different. Each one thinks they’re the best. Caledonian is the longest; Crinan the most beautiful; Monkland hard-working; Union is the fastest and the Forth & Clyde is wise and old. Can an ordinary wee puffer boat make them think again?
Scottish Canals CEO John Paterson said “We are delighted to be able to bring opera to our canalside locations this summer. Partnering with Scottish Opera allows us to both deliver a truly unique, entertaining, and accessible experience for all. I would encourage everyone to get out and about this summer and enjoy some canal magic as our canal corridors become the perfect stage for these performances.”
There will be additional performances in at Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, Moniaive, Musselburgh, Cupar, Charlestown, Milngavie, Coatbridge, Lochcarron, Cruden Bay, Kirriemuir, Ayr and East Kilbride. There will also be free schools’ performances in Dumfries & Galloway, West Lothian, West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, Strathcarron, Fort Augustus, Perth, Dundee and Aberdeenshire.
In addition, SO will be offering illustration workshops to local primary schools in some venues so they can meet and draw the characters from Puffy MacPuffer & the Crabbit Canals before coming along to see the show.
S O’s productions use ten specially created illustrations to help the performers, who comprise storytellers Allan Dunn and Katie Barnett, along with singers Jessica Leary, Holly Teague, Colin Murray and Paul Grant, cellist Andrew Drummond Huggan and guitarists Sasha Savaloni and Luke Anderson.
Pop-up Opera, that is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera, was originally inspired by the ancient Japanese art of Kamishibai , that is a form of entertainment where itinerant storytellers travelled between small communities, telling traditional folk tales using a set of small paintings to accompany the narrative.
Tickets are on sale now at www.scottishopera.org.uk/pop-up-opera-2025/
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 