Bhopal disaster returns to British stage in one-woman play

FOUR decades after a toxic gas leak killed thousands in Bhopal, in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, a one-woman play is bringing the story to British audiences – not simply as a tragedy from the past, but as a warning about the human cost of industrialisation.

Darkling, written by Titas Halder and directed by Matthew Xia, follows a young Dalit woman growing up in Bhopal before the Union Carbide factory disaster of December 1984 changes her life forever. Thousands of the city’s residents died and many more were left with serious health problems. Its effects have continued through subsequent generations and contamination in the area.

For Xia, the story is particularly important because “the tragedy continues. The water is still poisonous, the air is still poisonous. People are still being born with physical deformities. Children are still being born without life.”

The play has its world premiere at the Bush Theatre in London, with Stranger Things actor Linnea Berthelsen making her UK stage debut.

Xia told Eastern Eye the actress stood out during auditions because she could hold an audience’s attention through small movements as well as larger emotional ones.

Her casting may also introduce the story to people who know Berthelsen from Stranger Things, but who may be unaware of the 1984 disaster.

Xia hopes that will help bring a wider audience into the theatre.

Director Matthew Xia in rehearsal for Darkling at Bush Theatre Alex Brenner

The director first encountered the story through Halder’s play rather than through the historical record.

He was struck by the scale of the industrial catastrophe, which took place before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986, yet had received far less attention in Britain. That stayed with him.

“There’s a reason for that, and I think it is racism,” Xia said. “This thing happened to poor Indian, brown people, rather than white middle-class people, and therefore it didn’t affect the world in the same way.”

The director does not want the event described simply as the “Bhopal disaster”. He prefers to call it the Union Carbide disaster, arguing that the wording should not make it appear that the city itself was responsible for what happened.

Darkling begins before the gas leak, and the story starts as a coming-of-age tale rather than a disaster drama. “The most important theme in the play for me is hope,” Xia said. “Hope, always.”

The protagonist faces several forms of inequality – caste, class and poverty – but refuses to accept that they must determine her future.

Rather than attempting to tell the entire history through a large cast, Halder has concentrated the story around one woman. Xia, who has been artistic director of Actors Touring Company since 2018, said the choice gives audiences a personal connection to events that might otherwise seem like distant statistics.

“It’s also talking about economic disparity and privilege,” he said.

Linnea Berthelsen Chege Shots

The play explores how communities can be persuaded to accept industrial development because of the opportunities it appears to offer, while decisions about safety can be made far away from the people who face the consequences.

He described the events surrounding Bhopal as a “catalogue of human errors”, pointing to the removal of safety measures at the plant before the leak, and noted that similar questions remain today.

Industrial projects continue to be developed in poorer communities, while the consequences of environmental damage can fall disproportionately on people with less power to influence decisions.

Xia compared this with the location of modern infrastructure projects, such as data centres, arguing that they are often built away from affluent areas and closer to poorer communities.

“It’s an ongoing struggle,” he said. That argument gives Darkling a contemporary focus. Xia wants audiences to consider the current relationship between industry, communities and the environment.

Climate change is another part of that connection, with air, water and land affected by human activity.

“I hope an audience leaves the theatre with a greater respect for the planet we have to share,” he said.