Access all arias: Pop-up opera to be staged outdoors across Scotland
● First series of post-lockdown shows confirmed
Pop-up performances of opera are to be staged at Edinburgh Zoo, the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian as part of a newly announced month-long tour of outdoor locations by Scottish Opera.
Pop-up performances of opera are to be staged at Edinburgh Zoo, the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian as part of the first series of live cultural events announced since the lifting of restrictions by the Scottish Government last week.
Scottish Opera has unveiled plans for a month-long tour of outdoor locations across the country in what will be its first public performances in more than six months.
The company, which will take a specially adapted trailer out on the road in September for a series of 25-minute shows, will also be staging a new production of the tragic love story La bohème outside its production headquarters in Glasgow.
In a twist to the Puccini opera, which will be performed before audiences of up to 100, all the main characters will be struggling designers, painters, writers and musicians forced to live out of lorries in a car park.
The grounds of Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, Platform art centre in Easterhouse, the Heart of Hawick arts centre and The Beacon arts centre in Greenock will also play to the all-seater pop-up shows, which will have a capacity of about 70.
Tickets for performance of the “pop-up opera” roadshow – which will feature condensed versions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers – will be free but will have to be booked in advance at each location. A new work, The Song of the Clyde, will be premiered during the run of up to three shows a day from 4 to 27 September at each location, with further dates possible depending on demand.
Scottish Opera said director Roxana Haines’ version of La bohème, which will cost £20 a ticket, will be “a powerful reinterpretation inspired by the current pandemic”, with the cast of eight performing against a backdrop of graffiti art. All tickets will be available to book from this Thursday.
Alex Reedjik, Scottish Opera’s general director, said: “There’s been a boiling cauldron of desire and ambition within the company to get back out there with performances again.
“The players in our orchestra, our singers, the crews and creative teams have all been saying to me that they really wanted to get back to work. We’re probably bringing between 60 and 70 people back to work for these two strands. They’re reduced in scale from what we’d normally do but it’s the best we can do for the moment.”
“We’ve been planning things for about six weeks now. When we were thinking of ideas, it seemed to make really good sense to start outside our production studios, where we have our rehearsal rooms, and scenery, props and costume workhops.
“We’re going to use a car park adjacent to our paint shop. The plan is to have a reduced orchestra in there so that the audiences will be very aware there is live music being played inside, with the singers performing outdoors on three separate stages.
“We’ve been sending out pop-up operas around the country for about 10 years now. Previously we’d have done them inside, in one of the scenery trailers, but with social distancing we can’t do that. Instead we’ll be using an open trailer as a stage, with the audience sitting in front in their socially distanced bubbles.”
“There’s been a boiling cauldron of desire and ambition within the company to get back out there with performances again.”
ALEX REEDJIK
Scottish Opera’s general director