Best known for her role in the Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things, Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen returns to the theatre in a one-woman show. As she takes on eight characters – alone – in Darkling, she reflects on vulnerability, relinquishing control and why the most daunting creative leaps can be the most rewarding
I'm back to where I started out: theatre. Back in my student days, I would slip into London every weekend from my far-east London accommodation, buying £10 National Theatre standby tickets and spending all my money at its bookshop. I bought books on the masters, voice work and character studies, hoping that one day, I’d be invited to do a play at a London stage. That was the dream.
I would go around town, dropping off my glossy headshots at the casting directors' offices, but my teachers told me not to drift off and get ahead of myself; just fully commit to my training. But I’ve always questioned: Where would the 'rulebook' lead me? Who’s truly in charge of that path? Even today I still can’t seem to identify a 'rulebook', other than: ‘Do the work, and keep going’.
It’s been almost 10 years since I dropped out of drama school and took on my first job, yet in some ways I feel like I’m just getting started. I’m going back to where I started with Darkling – back to repetition, and to a sense of having no control.
Berthelsen and director Matthew Xia. Photo: Jemima Marriott