Wednesday June 10th 2026
Cast of kids show, Be a Sport, Spike! (image credit: Kirsty Anderson)
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Scottish Opera’s much-loved Pop-up Opera hits the road from 29 May, coming to Newtongrange in July.
Bringing performance of A Little Bit of The Elixir of Love, Be A Sport, Spike! and A Little Bit of Rigoletto across Scotland, these 30-minute shows, directed by Darren Brownlie, ‘take opera out of the theatre into unexpected places all over the country’ described as ideal for anyone new to the art form who would like to try a taster of these classics.
Between 2021 and 2025, almost 21,000 people have seen a performance of Pop-up Opera, from Orkney to the Isle of Lewis, across the Central Belt and down to Dumfries and Galloway, at a variety of iconic and surprising locations.
At last year’s Pop-up Opera tour, one audience member commented that ‘it was great to see and hear world-class musicians and singers in our local environment. It makes it possible for people who cannot travel far.’
Another added that Pop-up Opera ‘was a fun event, the narrator kept the audience involved, musicians were excellent and best of all it was local.’
This summer, audiences can experience opera on a miniature scale at public Pop-up performances at Perth Festival of the Arts and Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, and in Tayport, Peebles, Mull, Connel, Fochabers, Stonehaven, New Stevenston, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Giffnock, Barrhead, Linlithgow, Glasgow and Newtongrange, plus free illustration workshops for children aged 4 to 8, at select venues.
Midlothian’s Pop-up performance will take place on 5 July from 1pm to 3pm at the National Mining Museum.
There will also be free school performances in Perth, Dumfries and Galloway, Mull, Dundee, Aberdeenshire, Moray and North Lanarkshire.
Scottish Opera’s productions use ten specially created illustrations to help the performers — storytellers Marc MacKinnon and Dani Heron, along with singers Holly Teague, Marie Claire Breen, Ross Cumming, Colin Murray, cellist Andrew Drummond Huggan and guitarist Sasha Savaloni — present the story.
Scottish Opera’s Director of Outreach & Education, Jane Davidson MBE said: ‘This year we are once again delighted to be visiting locations and venues across Scotland, swapping grand theatres for venues right on your doorstep. We are presenting a trio of Pop-up productions, contrasting the ‘light and the dark’ of the operatic repertoire.
“Be A Sport, Spike! is being performed this summer just in time for the football world cup, and as athletes from all over the world journey to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. Written for children and their families, we tell the story of Mike ‘The Spike’ McTavish – the world’s greatest all round sporting hero!’ But there is one thing that Spike can’t do – sing! Audiences will join Spike and his friends as he starts to exercise those vocal cords and finds out that a little perseverance can go a long way.
“Verdi’s most famous revenge tragedy Rigoletto is a gripping tale of deceit and despair, with the title character’s plan to protect his daughter from a villainous Duke going horribly wrong.
“But love takes many forms in the world of opera – not least in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love – a delicately balanced comedy in which a naïve country boy learns that true love is not conjured up with the aid of a magic potion but won through character and perseverance.”
Be A Sport, Spike! was originally commissioned for Festival 2018, the cultural programme
surrounding the city’s hosting of the first ever European Championships.
Pop-up Opera, supported by Friends of Scottish Opera, was originally inspired by
Japanese storytellers who brough folk tales to villages, just as this tour does.
Tickets are on sale now at www.scottishopera.org.uk/pop-up-opera-2026.
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