Darkling
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.
Ferocious, brutal and damning, this epic story of a life ravaged by ecological disaster is written by Titas Halder (Foal, Finborough) and directed by Matthew Xia (Tambo & Bones, ATC / Stratford East). Starring international star Linnea Berthelsen, best known globally for her breakout role as Kali Prasad (008) in Netflix’s worldwide phenomenon Stranger Things.
Concept by Émilie Chen. Photography by Sebastian Nevol
Venue
Price
Presented by
Actors Touring Company and Bush Theatre co-production
Written by
Titas Halder
Directed by
Matthew Xia
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Running Time
Approx. 70 minutes
Age Guidance
14+
Content Advice
Please note, this production contains discrimnation and social oppression, racism, child abuse, violence, miscarriage /stillbirth, graphic illness and injury, psychological distress, death and bereavement and infrequent strong language.
Photos by Chege Shots
Linnea Berthelsen (centre) with Artistic Director Actors Touring Company Matthew Xia (left) and Writer Titas Halder (right)
L-R Linnea Berthelsen, Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company Matthew Xia and writer Titas Halder
Linnea Berthelsen
Cast
Linnea Berthelsen
Linnea Berthelsen is a British-trained Danish actress who resides in London.
Linnea is perhaps best known for her role of Kali in Netflix hit Stranger Things. Linnea was first introduced as Kali in season two where she was revealed to be the sister of Eleven/Jane played by Millie Bobby Brown. Linnea’s character made a shock return to the show in its final series, playing a pivotal part in the show’s final storyline.
Linnea’s other projects include the role of Jen in Alex Garland’s mini-series Devs for Hulu and the BBC. Linnea’s short film credits include Teenland opposite Vic Carmen Sonne and directed by Marie Grahto, Natskygge, What Tyler Did and Sláinte.
Creative Team
Writer
Titas Halder
Titas Halder
Titas Halder is a writer and director working across Theatre, Film and Music. He is currently Associate Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse. As a writer he trained on the Royal Court Theatre Young Writers’ Programme.
His first two plays Run the Beast Down and Escape the Scaffold saw him nominated for Best Writer at the inaugural Stage Debut Awards and acclaimed as a rising star playwright. The same year, his play The Basement was a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award.
His next play Replica premiered at the National Theatre as part of NT Connections, and was also produced at Riksteatern’s Länk Festival in Stockholm. His latest play Foal premiered at the Finborough Theatre in London in 2026. He was selected for BBC Voices 2024 and is currently writing his first feature film for Storyteller.
Director
Matthew Xia
Matthew Xia
Matthew Xia is a multiple award-winning theatre director, cultural leader, and multi-disciplinary artist whose work moves fluidly between stages, streets, and communities.
Matthew Xia has been the Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company since 2018. He was previously Associate Artistic Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Director-in-Residence at Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse; and Associate Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Directing credits include: Small Island (Leeds Playhouse / Birmingham Rep / Nottingham Playhouse / ATC); The Harder They Come (Stratford East); Bodies of Water (ATC / GDIF); Skeleton Crew (Donmar Warehouse); The Architect (GDIF / ATC / Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation); Tambo & Bones (ATC / Theatre Royal Stratford East); the Olivier Award winning Hey Duggee – The Live Theatre Show (Kenny Wax Family Entertainment / Cuffe & Taylor); the Fringe First Award-winning Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen (Francesca Moody Productions / Bush
Theatre); Rice (ATC / Orange Tree); The Wiz (Ameena Hamid Productions / Hope Mill / BBC Big Night of Musicals); Family Tree (GDIF / ATC / Belgrade / Brixton House); 846Live (Stratford East / GDIF); Amsterdam (ATC / Orange Tree / Theatre Royal Plymouth); Blood Knot (Orange Tree); Eden (Hampstead Theatre); One Night In Miami… (Nottingham Playhouse / Bristol Old Vic / HOME); Into The Woods and Frankenstein (Royal Exchange); Wish List (Royal Exchange / Royal Court); Shebeen (Nottingham Playhouse / Stratford East); Sleeping Beauty and The Blacks (Stratford East); Dublin Carol (Sherman Theatre); Blue/Orange and The Sound of Yellow (Young Vic); Sizwe Banzi is Dead (Young Vic / Eclipse); I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (co-director, Stratford East / Barbican); and Suckerpunch Boom Suite (Barbican / NitroBEAT).
Across his career, Matthew has directed some of the UK’s most talented actors, including Daniel Kaluuya, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Quinn, Erin Doherty, Malachi Kirby, Maxine Peake, David Haig, and Samuel Barnett.
In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts London in recognition of his work to make theatre more accessible and to champion minority groups as leaders, makers, and audiences within the industry.
Designer
Simon Kenny
Simon Kenny
Musical Theatre credits include: Lord Of The Rings (Chicago, Aukland, Sydney); Rehab The Musical (West End); The Lord Of The Rings; Whistle Down The Wind (Watermill); The Lion (Southwark Playhouse/Arizona Theatre Company, Japan, Korea); The Light in the Piazza, Merrily We Roll Along (Royal Academy of Music); The Wiz (Hope Mill); Ghost Quartet (Boulevard Theatre); Assassins (Watermill/Nottingham Playhouse); Cabaret (English Theatre Frankfurt/Deutsches Theater Munich); the multi award-winning Sweeney Todd in a purpose-built pie shop (West End/Off-Broadway, Drama Desk nomination – Outstanding Set Design of a Musical).
Other theatre credits include: Romeo and Juliet (Belgrade, Coventry); Link In My Bio (Luxembourg Opera), The Unseen (Riverside Studios); Bodies of Water (ATC); Here In America, Duet For One (Orange Tree, Richmond); Steel, Brassed Off (Theatre By The Lake); One Last Push (Wiltshire Creative); Murder In The Dark (UK Tour); The Real & Imagined History of the Elephant Man (Nottingham Playhouse); Family Tree (ATC); Blue/Orange (Royal & Derngate Northampton); Nothello (Belgrade/Coventry City of Culture); The Art of Illusion, The Death of a Black Man (Hampstead); Footfalls & Rockaby (Jermyn Street); Antigone (Mercury Colchester); several UK tours for Eclipse including The Gift (Stratford East) and Black Men Walking (Royal Exchange); Crongton Knights, Noughts & Crosses (Pilot/UK tours); Red Dust Road (National Theatre of Scotland); Giraffes Can’t Dance (Curve); The Children (English Theatre Frankfurt); Holes (Nottingham Playhouse/UK tour); Broken Glass (Watford Palace); Babette’s Feast (The Print Room); Rose (HOME); Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe).
Lighting Designer
Rajiv Pattani
Rajiv Pattani
Sound Designer
Beth Duke
Beth Duke
Composer
Niraj Chag
Niraj Chag
Movement Director
Anjali Mehra
Anjali Mehra
Casting Director
Shaheen Baig
Shaheen Baig
Associate Director