Sullivan’s The Zoo and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury are presented as companion one-act operettas tracing the collapse of a chaotic romance. The Zoo follows a young couple navigating hidden identities, secret marriages and comic misunderstandings before becoming engaged. The story continues in Trial by Jury, where Angelina brings her former fiancé Edwin to court for breach of promise, turning a courtroom proceeding into a sequence of comic reversals and absurd legal theatrics.

The production is directed by John Savournin, known for his Gilbert & Sullivan stagings and work with English National Opera and Scottish Opera. Olivier Award-winning conductor Peter Whelan leads the orchestra.

Originally paired in a 2025 Scottish Opera production, the operettas are staged at the London Coliseum with a 1980s-inspired setting. Sullivan’s scores combine comic lyricism with light social satire, while both librettos emphasize mistaken identities, romantic confusion and exaggerated legal and social conventions.