Seven Angels fall into a deserted wasteland with no recollection of who they are or why they have been banished there. Their attempt to reconstruct the past results in a taut, surreal operatic performance. Inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost, this is a masterful collaboration from talented librettist Glyn Maxwell and Luke Bedford, one of Britain’s youngest composers.

While Bedford makes his operatic debut, following the success of his highly-acclaimed 2007 piece Or Voit Tout en Aventure, Maxwell addresses his long-pondered question: can an opera be made of Milton’s epic poem? The answer: yes, give or take a thoroughly modern overhaul. The plot deals with numerous contemporary concerns over the environment and the state of our ailing planet (this performance was fittingly partnered with Friends of the Earth). It is not, however, delicately done. Bedford’s mostly musical score frequently descends into deliberate disharmony and, at times, a collection of clamouring sounds — Earth’s protest against her treatment. In tune with a 12-strong orchestra visible on-stage, mankind, born benevolent, falls into shameful disgrace.

The opera is tense from beginning to end, with all seven singers in dual roles embroiling themselves in a sacrilegious destruction of books, the symbolic building blocks of the post-apocalyptic stage set, designed-to-shock by visual artist Tadasu Takamine. The Japanese designer successfully depicts a never-ending wasteland confined within a relatively claustrophobic space. Simple monochrome tunics also work powerfully with the antithesis of black-and-white tree motifs.

Highlights of the night included a stunning performance from soprano Rhona Mckail (1st Angel/waitress), accompanied by superb acting from Christopher Lemmings (above) as the gluttonous, difficult and demanding prince.

With interactive discussions both before and after the show, Seven Angels was more of an experience than purely a performance. However, the talks were absolutely necessary for an opera which perhaps tries to do too much and consequently is rarely self-explanatory. Nevertheless, credit to the creators for tapping into the pressing current issues of climate change, poverty, misuse of resources and nearly every other conceivable global concern.