Angel's Bone at London Coliseum: Spectacular and disturbing

The Cast of ENO’s Angel’s Bone 2026, London Coliseum - (Nirah Sanghani)

At the behest of Arts Council England, English National Opera now works across two cities, London and Manchester, an awkward arrangement that the company is determined to make work. In May, at Manchester’s Aviva Studios, it gave the UK premiere of Angel’s Bone, a Pulitzer-winning opera by Shanghai-born, New York-based composer Du Yun (libretto by Royce Vavrek). Now the production has reached the Coliseum, ENO’s London base.

The Aviva is an in-the-round space, the Coliseum has a traditional proscenium arch, so director Kip Williams and his many collaborators (including Marg Horwell, set and costumes; Ash J Woodward, video design; Jack Knowles, lighting) have had to adapt. I didn’t see the Manchester version, but the London iteration is intricate and spectacular. The stage, initially inert, doesn’t stay that way for long. Room-like structures soon fill the space, their configuration consistently shifting through the opera’s 80 minutes. We are in the home of a clearly prosperous couple, Mr and Mrs X E, who, equally clearly, are not getting along; a For Sale sign indicates that they’ve hit hard times.