In late July 2026, I facilitated a participatory model-making workshop at The Engine Room – a historic seasonal music venue in Southport. This was part of an ongoing collaboration between Northern Opera Group (NOG) and the University of Manchester, exploring what a nomadic performance space could look like – a way of bringing opera to people, wherever they are.
Participants were local community members with an interest in performance spaces and art, including people involved in leading the regeneration of Southport’s historic Wayfarers Arcade. Before the making began, a professional singer from New Zealand performed a short opera piece, partly in Māori language and incorporating forest sounds – setting an evocative tone for the day.
Participants were local community members with an interest in performance spaces and art, including people involved in leading the regeneration of Southport’s historic Wayfarers Arcade. Before the making began, a professional singer from New Zealand performed a short opera piece, partly in Māori language and incorporating forest sounds – setting an evocative tone for the day.
Participants were then introduced to NOG’s ambition to create a sustainable, portable performance space, and invited to imagine what this could look like through model-making. Alongside more conventional materials like card, paper and paints, participants used chicken wire, ribbons, pompoms, and wood discs.
Others explored how a stage could be collapsed, transported, and folded out again, whilst also considering how performers and audience might be cocooned together. Further ideas conceptualised the shift between daytime and nighttime opera experience , and the possibilities of a tunnel-like performance space.
At the end of the session, each participant or group presented their idea to the rest of the attendees. This workshop forms part of a wider series, and as a next step, myself, the University of Manchester and NOG are planning an online exhibition to share and build on the ideas generated.
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