As the spooky season comes to an end and the festive season begins, Manchester’s theatres are currently hosting a mix of horrors, musicals, and Christmas-themed productions. But one show, arriving at HOME next week, stands out. Ferocious, brutal and damning, Darkling is an epic story of a life ravaged by ecological disaster.
“I walk home. The skyline is changed.
The skeleton is fast becoming a huge metal creature.
They have built a behemoth here.”
Bhopal. India. 1984.
“Born under a blue sky in a city of lakes, a girl grows up with her father and sister. The three of them together, always. But as she grows, the land begins to change. A giant factory rises over her town. Her mother always wanted more for them – now the girl wants more too. Then comes the night that tears everything apart.”
Forty-two years after the catastrophic Union Carbide chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, a powerful new co-production between the Actors Touring Company and the Bush Theatre confronts its lingering fallout. Written by Titas Halder and directed by Matthew Xia, Darkling is a gripping, seven-part dramatic monologue that charts the life of an unnamed young woman navigating poverty, ambition, and the sudden, devastating rupture of an industrial nightmare.
Staged on a striking, soil-filled set that mirrors the scarred earth of the disaster zone, this world premiere production serves as an urgent, poetic exploration of environmental destruction, corporate culpability, and the enduring resilience of a community left to pick up the pieces.
Bringing this harrowing narrative to life is Linnea Berthelsen (best known for her role in Stranger Things), who makes her highly anticipated UK stage debut in a demanding solo performance.
Running at approximately 90 minutes without an interval, Halder’s script effortlessly scales the monumental history of the 1984 gas leak down to a deeply intimate, human level.
As the production arrives at HOME Manchester next week, following its critically acclaimed London run, audiences can expect a visceral, visually evocative piece of theatre that demands we look closely at the multi-generational cost of industrial capitalism.
Darkling runs at HOME (Theatre 2), the last stop of its mini UK tour, from November 11 to 14.
Friday’s performance of Darkling will be followed by a post-show Q&A with Associate Director, Sara Aniqah Malik and performer, Linnea Berthelsen. Facilitated by HOME’s Studio Programmer, Saffron Rain, the panel will discuss the themes of the show, the process of creating such a challenging piece of work and some of the history the narrative is rooted in. This will be approximately 30 minutes long and include space for questions from the floor.
