James Bonas

Photo: Shona Hamilton.

James Bonas is a traditional storyteller for the modern era, combining imagination and intellect with a curiosity for technology and new forms, whether directing classical or contemporary theatre, opera, or dance. He studied Psychology and Philosophy at Oxford University, prior to training as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and developing his career as a director.

Bonas’s recent work in opera includes the world premiere of Isabelle Albouker’s L’Archipel(s) with La Maîtrise de L’Opéra Comique, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide at Welsh National Opera, Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at Theater Magdeburg, and – with his regulator collaborator, animator Grégoire Pont – the French premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Snow Queen for Opéra national du Rhin, winner of the 2022 French critics’ award for Best Scenic Elements/Scenography. Other work with Pont includes Carl Orff’s Der Mond and Maurice Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges for Opéra de Lyon. These works enjoy regular revivals at houses across Europe and the United States, with further performances scheduled at Semperoper Dresden and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Bonas also works in dance and enjoys an ongoing collaboration with choreographers Helen Pickett and Sophie Laplane. Recent projects with Helen Pickett include Emma Bovary for the National Ballet of Canada in 2023 and The Crucible for Scottish National Ballet, an award-winning narrative ballet which premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019, with further runs at Sadler’s Wells in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, Tennessee. With Sophie Laplane he created the celebrated short film Dive, also for Scottish Ballet. Dive has been featured in dance film festivals worldwide, including the 2021 Venice Biennale and Cinedans 2022, where it won the Grand Jury Prize.

An advocate for multi-disciplinary performance, Bonas collaborated with Damon Albarn as Artistic Consultant on the creation of Le Vol du Boli, an exploration of the complex and often brutal relations between Europe and West Africa, at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Appearing regularly at the BBC Proms, he staged Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale with the Hebrides Ensemble at the Drill Hall, Lincoln, as well as Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with Aurora Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. For the 2022 BBC Proms he collaborated with Anthony Roth-Costanzo and ENO on Glass Handel at the Print Works in London.