‘A gut-punching dose of painful reality’
With powerful writing from Titas Halder and direction from Matthew Xia, Darkling sets a young girl’s life under the looming shadow of a metal ‘giant’ – a factory, the impact of which will ripple across humanity and confront some of the darkest, bleakest truths of modern civilisation.
Set in the years leading up to the gas leak in 1984 that would go on to kill thousands and chronically injure hundreds of thousands, Linnea Berthelsen delivers an astounding solo performance as a girl growing up in the slums of Bhopal, India. She convincingly weaves scenes from her childhood to her older self, describing the scenery around her and conversations with other characters. The ninety minutes melt away as Berthelsen draws us into the girl’s childlike wonder, that masterfully morphs into adult disillusionment and despair.
The simple set, a brick stage surrounded by sand, is used cleverly: removable bricks become wells and hiding places for props, while lights, mist and colour evoke the surroundings and time of day. The location of the story is never named, only hinted at through contextual mentions of India, the slums, ‘the city of lakes’ and an ominous factory tower. This story could take place anywhere marked by inequality, injustice and neglect. Mostly unnamed characters, such as ‘uncle’, ‘father’, ‘sister’, ‘my love’, all form the fabric of
a recognisable life and all its unrealised potential.
The show’s name evokes caste and inequality, the bleakness of poverty, and the darkness the main character comes to experience. Only in the final act does the disaster arrive – a striking tragedy built on longstanding injustice. Trapped by circumstances they neither chose nor can escape, the people of Bhopal were neglected long before the epitome of catastrophe struck. Through the main character’s pain, rage, resentment and shame, the play explores the unequal structures that allow parts of the world to be exploited because they are ‘valued less’. Within these fences, hope turns to dust. We often come to expect such stories to offer some kind of resolution, or at least a bittersweet note of hope. In Darkling, there appears to be no light of hope. Things go from bad to worse, and those responsible never seem to get their comeuppance.
In the final scenes, the main character confronts those who directly played their hands in this deadly
exploitation, but also the audience and those complicit around the globe. This is a play that screams out for us to remember people like her, and our humanity.
Darkling is showing at HOME Theatre, Manchester, until Saturday 14 November: Tickets here.