Pop-up opera summer shows to visit Coatbridge and East Kilbride (2025)

The programme run by Scottish Opera and Scottish Canals includes a special children's show plus two Gilbert & Sullivan classics

Pop-up performances will be coming to two Lanarkshire venues this summer as Scottish Opera and Scottish Canals team up for a musical tour for all age groups.

Children’s opera Puffy MacPuffer and the Crabbit Canals and two extracts from Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operas will be performed on outood stages at Summerlee museum in Coatbridge – beside the Monkland Canal – and at East Kilbride arts centre.

Schools in North Lanarkshire will also be among those in eight local authority areas across Scotland to enjoy free performances as part of the nationwide tour.

Created specifically for youngsters aged five to eight with music and words by Marion Christie, Puffy MacPuffer & The Crabbit Canals tells the tale of the five waterways that link Scotland, from the North Sea to the Atlantic.

Organisers say: “Like most families, each one is different: Caledonian – the longest; Crinan – the most beautiful; hard-working Monkland; Union – the fastest; wise old Forth & Clyde; each one thinks they’re the best. Can an ordinary little puffer boat make them think again?”

Free performances of the 30-minute show will take place at Summerlee on Saturday, June 14 at 3pm, and at the East Kilbride venue on Sunday, July 6 at 1pm – with specially-created illustrations being used to help storytellers Allan Dunn and Katie Barnett, singers Jessica Leary, Holly Teague, Colin Murray and Paul Grant, and musicians Andrew Drummond Huggan, Sasha Savaloni and Luke Anderson tell the story.

Monkland canal, a scheduled monument along with the other four canals, has a branch at the Coatbridge industrial heritage museum site where visitors can see a replica of historic iron-hulled canal boat The Vulcan.

Summerlee will also stage a ticketed doubled bill of A Little Bit of The Gondoliers and A Little Bit of The Pirates of Penzance on the June date; while East Kilbride arts centre will have a free outdoor performance of the latter show on July 6.

The 30-minute pop-up shows “take opera out of the theatre into unexpected places, and are ideal for anyone new to the artform”, and are supported by Friends of Scottish Opera.

Scottish Opera director of outreach and education Jane Davidson MBE said: “Gilbert & Sullivan’s topsy-turvy nautical adventures will be navigating the waterways from Penzance to Venice, and we will be stopping at some of Scotland’s most beautiful canalside spots.”

John Paterson, chief executive of Scottish Canals agreed: ‘We are delighted to be able to bring opera to our canalside locations this summer – partnering with Scottish Opera allows us both to deliver a unique, entertaining, and accessible experience as our canal corridors become the perfect stage for these performances.”

Tickets for the Coatbridge and East Kilbride shows are on sale at www.scottishopera.org.uk/pop-up-opera-2025/

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