James Bonas

James Bonas is a British director working across classical and contemporary theater, opera, and dance. He combines imagination and intellect with a curiosity for technology and innovative uses of video design and animation. 

Bonas trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London before developing a career as a director. Recent productions include the French premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queen for Opéra national du Rhin, which won the Prix de la critique 2022 for Best Scenic Elements/Scenography, and Jonathan Dove’s Flight for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is a regular collaborator with animator Grégoire Pont at Opéra National de Lyon, where their work includes new productions of Carl Orff’s Der Mond and  Maurice Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges and L’Heure espagnole (Ravel). Other recent projects include the world premiere of Silent City, a community opera for Matera (European Capital of Culture 2019), Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’étoile at Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (Lisbon), and Ariadne auf Naxos at Theater Magdeburg. 

Bonas also works internationally in dance and enjoys an ongoing collaboration with choreographers including Helen Pickett and Sophie Laplane. With Pickett, he created the narrative ballets The Crucible (2019, Scottish Ballet), which won a UK Theatre Critics Award and a Herald Angel Award, Emma Bovary (2023, The National Ballet of Canada), and Crime and Punishment (2024, American Ballet Theatre). With Laplane he created the celebrated short dance film Dive (2022, Scottish Ballet), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cinedans 2022. 

An advocate for multidisciplinary performance, Bonas worked as Artistic Consultant on the creation of Le Vol du Boli at the Théâtre du Châtelet. He also appeared regularly at the BBC Proms, staging Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, as well as collaborating on Glass Handel, an opera installation by countertenor Anthony Roth-Costanzo. 

As an associate director, Bonas has worked alongside directors including Rufus Norris, Terry Gilliam, Tom Morris, and Simon McBurney on productions including Wonder.land at the National Theatre and Théâtre du Châtelet, A Dog’s Heart (Aleksandr Raskatov) at English National Opera/Complicité, and The Death of Klinghoffer (John Adams) at English National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. 

Last update: 27-03-2025