 Oakes wrote the text for the television opera "The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit" (1995) by the Irish composer Gerald Barry, commissioned by Channel Four.In the summer of 2002 this was staged in a production by director/designer Nigel Lowery for Almeida Opera, at the Aldeburgh Festival and in London, and also performed in the autumn at the Berlin Festwochen.Other opera texts she has written include "Miss Treat" for Des Oliver, staged by Tête à Tête in 2000, "Jump into My Sack" (based on a story by Italo Calvino) for Julian Grant, staged by Mecklenburg Opera in 1996, and "Solid Assets" for Colin Huehns, staged by the English National Opera studio in 1993.