Angel's Bone - English National Opera

Angel's Bone - English National Opera description

What happens when a couple of angels fall to earth? You'll love dark, disturbing Angel's Bone.

Angel's Bone weaves an unsettling parable where care turns into contempt and love is transformed into loathing, composed by Du Yu with a libretto from Royce Vavrek. This ENO production is made in collaboration with Factory International and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and this is its UK premiere. 

Du Yu, the Chinese-American composer, performance artist and activist, was the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer for this story, her second opera. In 2019 it was nominated for a Grammy, so you can expert something special. Unlike any opera you've seen before, the work blends different musical genres, the spoken word and thrilling staging to create a powerful story of modern slavery and human trafficking. 

We meet Mr and Mrs X.E, whose crumbling marriage is made worse by an acute financial crisis. They're desperate for a better life, so when they find two injured angels in their garden, they invite them indoors and decide to nurse them back to life. But care soon morphs into control as the couple exploit the angels in pursuit of wealth and fame. The powerful libretto explores the dark forces that send people into the horrible world of modern slavery. Du Yun's unique style, involving everything from chamber music and cabaret to punk, brings drama to the plot and Director Kip Williams' extraordinary staging is totally immersive. By the end you'll be questioning the part you played in the angels' exploitation. 

This is Kip Williams' ENO and UK opera debut, marking his long-time working relationship with award-winning Designer Marg Horwell (The Maids, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula). Baldur Brönniman conducts, and the couple is played by Allison Cook (Duke Bluebeard's Castle) and Rodney Earl Clarke. Girl Angel is played by Mariam Wallentin, Matthew McKinney plays Boy Angel, and Keith Pun is the Male Soprano. The opera is sung in English with surtitles. 

Buy Angel's Bone tickets to see an opera so unusual, so compelling, so potent and so strange you'll never forget the experience. 

Playing at London Coliseum

St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES GB (venue info)

Directions