Angel's Bone opens at the London Coliseum on 16 October for six performances only. These pictures from the Coliseum show Kip Williams's staging of Du Yun's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, which arrives with its Manchester cast intact.
Angel's Bone reaches the West End on 16 October. English National Opera brings the production to the London Coliseum for a short run to 31 October 2026, after its UK premiere at Aviva Studios, Manchester, in May. The production photos below were taken at the London Coliseum by Nirah Sanghani and Tristram Kenton.
The story is a modern fable with a hard edge. Mr and Mrs X.E., a couple desperate for a better life, find two injured angels in their garden. Taking them in looks like kindness. It quickly turns into ownership and profit, and the opera becomes a portrait of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Du Yun's own view is that "art, at its best, functions to provoke".
Du Yun's score moves between medieval polyphony, punk, electronics, chamber music and cabaret, setting a libretto by Royce Vavrek. The piece had its world premiere in New York and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2017.
The whole cast returns from Manchester. Allison Cook sings Mrs X.E., with Rodney Earl Clarke as her husband, Mr X.E. Mariam Wallentin and Matthew McKinney are the Girl Angel and the Boy Angel, and countertenor Keith Pun is the Male Soprano. The Manchester-based Kantos Chamber Choir is back as well, and Baldur Brönnimann conducts the Orchestra of ENO in the expanded orchestration. The full London cast was confirmed in September.
Kip Williams directs again, after making his UK opera debut with this production. Designs are by Marg Horwell, lighting by Jack Knowles and original video by Ash J Woodward, with sound by Dominic Bilkey and Joseph Reiser.
Performances start at 19.30 on 16, 22, 23 and 29 October, at 18.00 on 17 October and at 15.00 on 31 October. The 22 October performance is British Sign Language interpreted. The opera is sung in English with surtitles and is recommended for ages 18+, as it depicts human trafficking, sexual violence including rape, extreme violence, and drug and alcohol misuse.
Tickets start at £25 including fees. Under-21s go free at every level of the theatre, and 21-35s can buy discounted seats. Book Angel's Bone now for the six-performance run.
