The reviews are in for Angel’s Bone, Du Yun and Royce Vavrek’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera about human trafficking, which English National Opera opened at the London Coliseum on 16 October after its UK premiere at Aviva Studios in Manchester in May. Two fallen angels are taken in, and then exploited, by a couple whose money and marriage are running out. The critics are united on Allison Cook’s ferocious Mrs X.E. and on the sheer ambition of Kip Williams’s staging, with three camera operators feeding live close-ups to vast screens. Where they part company is whether that apparatus intensifies the horror or puts it at a remove.
The verdict: eight reviews in so far, six of them rated: one four-star notice, four at three stars and one at two, an average of 3.0 out of 5, with British Theatre Guide and Theatre Weekly publishing no rating. Most of the critics single out Allison Cook, and every one of them dwells on the live-video staging. Bachtrack and BroadwayWorld think it earns its cruelty and makes the case for the opera, LondonTheatre.co.uk and musicOMH find it compelling but punishing, and Theatre Weekly and Mark Aspen feel the screens keep the drama at arm’s length. The nationals have yet to file, and we will add their notices as they appear.
What are critics saying about Angel’s Bone?
Bachtrack
"A polemic for our times: Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone at ENO"
Reviewer: David Karlin
David Karlin places the opera in the long line of work written to make an audience angry, and admires how far the score ranges, from something close to Renaissance polyphony, superbly sung by the Kantos Chamber Choir, to pounding electronics and sarcastic lounge music. He calls Allison Cook’s Mrs X.E. an extraordinary performance, magnified in every detail by the live cameras.
"I can only admire Du Yun, Vavrek and ENO for their courage in putting on this show."
He admits he left feeling somewhat battered, but argues that is beside the point for a story that needs telling.
LondonTheatre.co.uk
"'Angel's Bone' review — this Pulitzer Prize-winning opera is a challenging portrait of abuse and depravity"
Reviewer: Aliya Al-Hassan
Aliya Al-Hassan describes Kip Williams’s staging as part opera, part art installation, and warns that its visual intensity will overwhelm some. She finds the abuse scenes deliberately uncomfortable but often too much, and the talk-show satire too obvious, while praising Matthew McKinney’s delicate singing and Cook’s powerful mezzo.
"There is no doubt it is a compelling production, if not exactly an enjoyable one."
Her main reservation is Royce Vavrek’s libretto, which she finds repetitive and thin on character.
BroadwayWorld
"Kip Williams makes his ENO debut with a pitch-black opera that films itself."
Reviewer: Franco Milazzo
Franco Milazzo notes that London’s opera houses seem to have gone bleak for Halloween, and that ENO has chosen the darkest offering of all. He worries that the graphic detail strays close to trauma tourism, then concludes that Williams’s high-tech panopticon earns its cruelty by locking the audience in the room with the abusers.
"…those that stayed saw something that shifted the boundaries of modern opera"
Some, he observes, went home early.
musicOMH
"Angel's Bone review – ENO takes a bold gamble with Du Yun's disturbing opera"
Reviewer: Keith McDonnell
Keith McDonnell found himself watching the screens almost exclusively, which he takes to be Williams’s intention now the production has moved from Manchester’s in-the-round staging to a proscenium stage. He hears Bernstein and rock in Du Yun’s score and praises the precision Baldur Brönnimann draws from the ENO Orchestra.
"ENO deserves credit for bringing such an uncompromising contemporary opera to the Coliseum."
He thinks the relentless exploitation sometimes overwhelms the drama, and doubts the opera will reach beyond audiences already drawn to new work.
The Reviews Hub
Reviewer: Jane Darcy
Jane Darcy finds the opening breathtaking, with the cameras peering into the revolving house and Cook and Rodney Earl Clarke strong as the scheming couple.
"For the first half of this 80-minute work, Angel’s Bones is compelling."
After the climax, though, she finds the ending needlessly protracted, its satire of influencer culture an easy target, and the stylistic range of the music tipping into gimmickry.
Mark Aspen
Reviewer: Patrick Shorrock
Patrick Shorrock is the least persuaded. He argues that making the victims angels distances the piece from the reality of trafficking, and finds the libretto vague, though Cook surmounts a formidable role.
"This was a rather downbeat launch to English National Opera’s new season."
He calls the production thrilling on a technical level, with superb use of the Coliseum’s revolve, but feels the screens pull focus between stage, video and surtitles and leave him detached.
British Theatre Guide
Reviewer: Vera Liber
Vera Liber praises ENO for restaging the Manchester production to fit the wide Coliseum stage, and calls Williams’s physical staging, with three camera operators weaving among the performers, confusing if powerful. She credits the orchestra with remarkable tenacity and verve in Du Yun’s fusion of styles.
"It’s quite testing, but I’m glad I’ve seen it."
Her advice: see it if you can stomach it.
Theatre Weekly
"The eye is naturally drawn to the vast screens, which makes the show almost more cinematic than theatrical"
Reviewer: Maggie O'Shea
Maggie O'Shea calls herself a possible contrarian, unable to get on board with the multimedia production. She admires the powerhouse performances, especially Cook and McKinney, and some soaring, affecting music, but finds the rotating set hiding the action and the screens splitting her attention.
"But there’s a fine line between innovation and gimmick"
She calls the staging a technical marvel that few beyond the keenest theatregoers will connect with.
Elsewhere this week, the critics have also had their say on Some Woman at the National Theatre and Baby at Brixton House.
Angel’s Bone is booking at the London Coliseum until Saturday 31 October 2026.
