Woolf Works - Royal Ballet and Opera
Royal Opera House
- Opens: Saturday, 17 January 2026 -
Booking until: Friday, 13 February 2026 - Running time: 2hr 45 min. Incl. 2 Intervals
Woolf Works - Royal Ballet and Opera description
Woolf Works presents the writings of Virginia Woolf in a uniquely magical way.
Royal Opera House Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor's extraordinary triptych of ballets, Woolf Works, plays with writer Virginia Woolf's genre-defying work. Prepare for something special.
The show is about as far from everyday storytelling as is gets, mixing up the author's famously dreamlike stream of consciousness writing style with themes from Mrs Dalloway, Orlando, The Waves and more. This 2015 production was created especially for the Royal Ballet, proving so popular it won an Olivier Award alongside a Critics' Circle National Dance Award.
I now, I then is inspired by Mrs Dalloway, a 1925 novel set over a single day that tells two stories, one about a society hostess's preparations for a smart party and the other about a shell-shocked war veteran on his way to be assessed by a psychiatrist. They don't meet but both of them are haunted by the past. Woolf's iconic 1928 novel Orlando introduces a character who lives for three hundred years without growing old, changing gender along the way. Becomings examines his huge, ever-changing universe. And Tuesday, inspired by the 1931 novel The Waves, is Woolf's most experimental novel, where six people are taken from childhood to old age, with the ever-changing sea always present and the author's suicide in the river Ouse getting ever-closer.
The cast varies depending on the performance date. The Choreographer, director and designer Wayne McGregor leads the composer of the original score Max Richter, architectural practices Ciguë and We Not I, lighting designer Lucy Carter, costume designer Moritz Junge, film designer Ravi Deepres, make-up designer Kabuki and dramaturg Uzma Hameed. The sound system designer is Chris Ekers.
Woolf Works tickets take you on a whistle-stop tour through the extraordinary mind of Virginia Woolf, a woman way ahead of her time who left the world way too early.
Playing at Royal Opera House
Age restrictions
Ages 8+.
Important information
This production contains references to suicide. There are flashing lights and smoke throughout this production. Lasers are projected into the auditorium during Becomings.