Image Credit: Linnea Berthelsen photographed by David Reiss.

Linnea Berthelsen took the scenic route into acting. Growing up in Denmark, she started gymnastics at three, travelled solo through China, Australia and the US at 18, and eventually wandered into an acting class at New York’s Barrow Group. “I think my love for acting has always been there,” she says. “I just hadn’t been exposed to it as much.”

British theatre training followed, then a rather spectacular interruption: Stranger Things. Since playing Kali in the global Netflix phenomenon, Linnea has appeared in Alex Garland’s Devs, while quietly continuing to train with teachers from Guildhall, RADA and the RSC. She’s interested less in celebrity than longevity: “I hope I get to be an actor who can do consistent, good, solid work, grow from project to project, and learn from brilliant people.”

Now comes a formidable new challenge. Linnea makes her UK stage debut in Darkling, Titas Halder’s solo play, directed by Matthew Xia at the Bush Theatre from 5 September to 24 October. Set around the 1984 Bhopal disaster, it follows a seven-year-old girl as industrial ambition transforms her home before catastrophe strikes. Forty-two years later, its questions about environmental injustice, corporate responsibility and who pays for our idea of progress remain horribly current. “This could very well happen today,” Linnea warns.

So this week, take a leaf out of Linnea’s book: pick up a pencil and draw something, lose an afternoon in a museum, or swap a night at the pub for a play above one. Better still, seek out a tiny stage and take a chance on someone you’ve never heard of. Culture thrives when we show up for it – and, as Linnea says, “it’s a privilege if people take the time for you and your work.”

You didn’t grow up as a child actor – you spent years doing gymnastics and contemporary dance, travelled alone for around 18 months from the age of 18, and discovered acting almost by accident through classes and an audition in America. Take us back to that young Linnea setting off into the world: what were you searching for, what did travelling teach you about yourself, and when did acting begin to feel less like a discovery and more like the life you wanted?

That is correct!

I started doing gymnastics when I was 3 years old and only stopped as I left to travel at age 18.

I lived in China for quite some time, which has had a huge influence on me. On the last leg of my long trip through China, Australia, and then the US, I went to the Barrow Group in NYC and had my first acting auditioning class.

I travelled on my own, and only occasionally met people whom I’d travel with, so I guess it taught me how to cope with and enjoy a solitary lifestyle, which I do find helpful in this industry.

Acting can be quite lonely and isolated (not only when doing a solo show!).

I think my love for acting has always been there; I just hadn’t been exposed to it as much, I suppose, but I can see now (in fact, as I’m playing a child in Darkling) that I’ve always been deeply connected to performing, and I start to see how my background in gymnastic dance has shaped how I approach the work today.

I guess there were a few points of no return. One was after attending the acting class in NYC.

Another was when I, quite unexpectedly, got to the 3rd round of the National Theatre Schools in Denmark the first time I applied.

The headmasters of the National Theatre Schools asked me to make a decision – if I truly wanted to pursue this professionally. I decided to pursue it; however, I wanted to train in England to get British theatre training, particularly voice training.

This led me to go to Drama school in the UK (and, in fact, Stranger Things during those first few years).

In short — I think these events got me started and made it feel less like a discovery.

Image Credit: Photo some of the Darkling creative team: (L-R) Linnea Berthelsen, Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company Matthew Xia and writer Titas Halder. Photographed by Chege Shots.

Your career has taken you from Danish shorts and drama school to Stranger Things, Alex Garland’s Devs and now your UK stage debut. What have the less visible years taught you about ambition, patience and building a creative life on your own terms?

They have been incredibly important and so fulfilling.

When I was approached for Stranger Things, I was still in drama school, and I knew I wanted to continue my training, but wasn’t able to due to work, so I sought out teachers from Guildhall, RADA, and the RSC whose work I admired and really wanted to work with, and I’ve trained with most of them now on/off for almost a decade. Having such a strong core of teachers around me has helped me build a stable practise, and I know they will push me from project to project.

During those years, I also got to train with a group of brilliant practitioners (mostly women) who studied at Ecole Philippe Gaulier, and to perform with them during DEVS and Stranger Things 5, which has shaped me in many ways. And they even took me to perform outside London. I always had this dream about touring outside London. While I attended drama school, I spent my free time reading books on Zoe Wanamaker and Derek Jacobi’s careers in the rep theatre, and I thought that time was quite magical, that one got to travel out of London.

So, when it was floated that Darkling would have a small tour, I was very excited, just to get a small sense of that. I can’t wait to meet audiences in Oxford, Birmingham and Manchester.

So, I guess, even though Darkling is my UK stage debut, I feel like theatre has always been home, as I started my training here. And to answer your question — those less-visible years have been immensely valuable and have been about finding ways to do less-visible work and learn. Which I will continue to do, I’m sure.

And ultimately, those years prepared me for Darkling, as by the time wonderful Director Matthew Xia asked me to join, I knew I had at least the basics covered, and I feel very lucky that he believed in me to do it at this point in my journey.

Image Credit: Photo of Director Matthew Xia and Linnea Berthelsen in rehearsal for Darkling at Bush Theatre. Photographed by Alex Brenner.

Away from acting, you’ve talked about drawing in charcoal, visiting museums, taking long walks and listening to everything from Talk Art to In Our Time. Who is Linnea when she’s not performing – and what are you looking for in life and creatively now?

Correct.

At the moment, there isn’t much life outside of work, I must admit, and I’m also very excited to return to some of those things you’re mentioning in November! I’m someone who enjoys art, political podcasts, and drawing.

I went to a fine arts school, which has offered me so much, including in acting, so I’d be excited to perhaps go back and do a little training in this before starting a new project.

Creatively, I’m just always excited to find new challenges and great people to learn from. Working with older actors would be amazing! That was, in fact, something I was hoping for when Matthew reached out. He has also done amazing ensemble plays, so I really wasn’t expecting this.

I’m just trying to enjoy this time with the people I have in my life. It’s a very special time, and I feel very lucky.

Image Credit: Photo of Linnea Berthelsen and Movement Director Anjali Mehra in rehearsal for Darkling at Bush Theatre. Photographed by Alex Brenner.

Darkling begins intimately, with a girl, her father and sister, before the Union Carbide factory changes their landscape and the Bhopal disaster changes everything. What first connected you emotionally to Titas Halder’s play, and what have you discovered about Bhopal, environmental injustice and the people who continue to live with its consequences?

What connected me to Titas’ writing was actually seeing his one-man show “FOAL” at the Finborough Theatre, performed by the brilliant Amar Chadha-Patel, which I just loved.

I knew little about the Bhopal disaster. Luckily, my parents did, which has been extremely helpful for asking questions about the media coverage in the 80s. There is so much available material around it that we got to work on together and on our own.

I knew more about the international relations aspect and responses to earlier environmental crises regarding environmental and civilian protection laws, specifically the Marshall Islands and the Bikini Islands Nuclear Testing. So, I was quite aware of both some of the structural, political and extreme health-related problems that come with long term chemical exposure and injustice, but it’s been extraordinary and absolutely horrific digging into the Bhopal disaster specifically. We are very lucky that we have great access to material on this.

But ultimately, what drew me to Titas’ play was the main character of SHE. I was/am completely disarmed by this brave, mesmerising 7-year-old, and I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to play her. I love that his play feels so universal. Titas told me that Darkling could have been set in many different places and would still be relevant. I love this about a play.

Film Credit: Trailer for Darkling.

There’s a troubling question running through Darkling about what we call progress: industry arrives promising jobs, opportunity and a better future, while its true human and environmental costs can fall on communities with the least power. Forty-two years after Bhopal, what do you hope a London audience might recognise about the world we’re living in now?

I hope that they recognise that this could very well happen today, and that the repercussions could, unfortunately, be the same. As international tensions dominate the headlines, the play reminds audiences of the people who suffer most from environmental disasters and how they connect us all.

And I hope that young people may experience that, with injustice (be it environmental issues or something more personal), that the arts can be a beautiful way to share/interact with an audience, and that they are not alone.

Image Credit: Linnea Berthelsen in rehearsal for Darkling at Bush Theatre. Photographed by Alex Brenner.

This is your UK stage debut, you’re carrying a solo play, and you’re doing it with Titas Halder, Matthew Xia and a creative team spanning movement, music, sound and design. How are you collectively turning something as vast as Bhopal into one human life on stage?

That might be a question for my brilliant Director Matthew Xia!

But for my part, I really try to honour Titas’ wonderful writing as much as I can, lean into his words and his understanding of the world. We follow a fictional character, so I must play her reality, and let the real-life circumstances emerge through it.

Matthew has gathered an amazing group of artists and creatives who have all worked extremely hard to explore this with respect and care, first and foremost. His process itself is quite extraordinary, and he leads with such kindness, precision and care. I’m very, very lucky to be led by him and his brilliant team.

I also think the space we are in is a huge part of it. The Bush Theatre provides us with an inclusive, open space and such a supportive local community that has embraced Matthews’ vision and Titas’ mesmerising play from quite early on.

The theatre has amazing £10 and £15 pounds offers, which I think is so important, and I’m so proud to be part of a piece of theatre that is inclusive and inviting. I think we can convey this, because the Bush makes theatre available to audiences of all backgrounds. This solo show needs a diverse audience, and I’m so excited to meet people and grateful to all who have already chosen to join us!

Image Credit: Linnea Berthelsen in rehearsal for Darkling at Bush Theatre. Photographed by Alex Brenner.

You’ve played characters living at the edges of society and seem drawn to stories that resist easy moral answers. As you move through your thirties, what do you want to use your voice and visibility for – what excites you about the future, and what kind of artist and person do you hope you’re becoming?

That is true. I really appreciate working with that kind of material and characters.

However, I think SHE and Darkling are a little different from territory that I’ve recently explored.

SHE is an outcast, yet this has not led her down a straight, vengeful path per se. She is, ultimately, very pragmatic and very inspiring, I think.

I suppose I just want to use my voice to tell good stories, through different mediums and characters. I do believe that there is a power in speaking through your work. I’m excited to see what the next generation of storytellers will do. I think it is very exciting to see how they will interact with the world as it is now. I hope I get to be an actor who can do consistent, good, solid work, grow from project to project, and learn from brilliant people. That would be the dream.

I hope to be someone people keep wanting to spend time with. I really don’t take it for granted in my personal life, nor do I in my professional life. Colleagues or audiences, it’s a privilege if people take the time for you and your work.

Image Credit: Linnea Berthelsen in rehearsal for Darkling at Bush Theatre. Photographed by Alex Brenner.

Q8: Finally, we’d love three recommendations: which cultural places in London have become special to you over the years, and what is it about each of them that keeps drawing you back?

The V&A hold a special place in my heart. The ‘Discover Britain through Art and Design‘ tours keeps drawing me back!

The National Theatre, the Olivier stage. If you’ve never been, it’s such a beautiful experience.

I’d recommend people giving pub theatres a go if you can. Sometimes, amazing pieces of theatre are performed on some of the smallest stages in London.

Find Linnea at @linneaberthelsen

See Linnea make her UK stage debut, starring in Darkling at the Bush Theatre, London, 5 September – 24 October before touring to Oxford, Birmingham and Manchester.

Info & tickets → bushtheatre.co.uk