UTOYA Comes to the Arcola Theatre in August

On July 22nd 2011 on the Norwegian island of Utoya, a far-right terrorist massacred sixty-nine innocent students attending a socialist party Summer Camp after detonating a van full of explosives at the heart of Oslo's government district. Six characters touched by the tragedy of that fateful day tell their stories in a series of dark but warm dialogues. The fictional characters were created through extensive research by Erba into the events aiming not to depict the attack directly but represent the pain felt universally in Norway through these imagined characters one removed from the tragedy. A searing reflection on the domestic effects of societal trauma, Utoya offers a timely reminder of the threat of far-right extremism, inviting us to consider how tragedy can both bind people together and pull them further apart.

Gunnar and Malin have sent their daughter to the camp on the island, and desperately seek to contact her. Petter and Inga, who live on the farm next-door to the perpetrator’s, realise as the news breaks that their suspicions about him were well founded. Alf and Unni, members of the Oslo police force, must decide on the best course of action in response to the attack. Across a series of tender duologues, Utoya is a cautionary tale about the threat of far-right extremism, while also touching on society's latent prejudices, and revealing how compassion can rise to the fore in the midst of tragic events.

Director Sarah Stacey said, “Utoya is a challenging, knotty and powerful script. It is also a particularly confronting story to share at a time when the divides between us are feeling ever more unbridgeable. To me, the play is about our inability to communicate across these divides (be they political, generational, gendered or deeply personal) and what happens when they are allowed to calcify. The play shatters characters’ assumptions about what constitutes ‘us’ and ‘them’ but refuses to present a safe, comforting alternative. The challenge to an audience, therefore, is to face uncomfortable truths and to push back against them in their own lives. Utoya doesn’t provide us with a solution, but a provocation.”

Edoardo Erba is an Italian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, stage director and university professor at Pavia University, National Academy Silvio D’Amico and Belle Arti University of Rome. His previous plays include Marathon (1992), Porco Selvatico (1991) and The Night of Picasso (1991). Erba’s plays have been performed at Italian festivals including Venice Biennale, Taormina Film Fest, Montepulciano and Todi Festival and in renowned theatres across Italy. Erba is an award-winning dramaturg and has won the prestigious Robinson Award for his first novel Ami. His play Marathon has been translated in 17 languages and was staged in London and Edinburgh in 1999 as well as theatre across New Zealand, Sydney, Boston, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro, Zagreb, Sofia, Tel-Aviv, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Tokyo. This is the first time his play Utoya has been translated into English and performed in the UK.

Marco Young is a British-Italian translator and actor. After training at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the University of Cambridge, Young has translated plays includingSorry We Didn’t Die at Sea by Emanuele Aldrovandi at Park Theatre (2023), Suburban Miracles by Gabriele Di Luca at Camden People’s Theatre (2023) and Alarms! by Emanuele Aldrovandi (2023) at Omnibus Theatre. He has translated texts by Stefano Massini and Davide Enia, and recently completed a commission for award winning playwright Fabio Pisano for a first English translation of his new play Spezzata, Rapsodia (per intercessione del Silenzio). He was a mentee on the 2022-23 Foreign Affairs Theatre Translator Mentorship Programme, and a member of Mercury Theatre Colchester’s Producer Development Programme 2022-2023.

Arcola Theatre was founded by Mehmet Ergen and Leyla Nazli in September 2000. Originally located in a former textile factory on Arcola Street in Dalston, in January 2011 the theatre moved to its current location in a former paint-manufacturing workshop on Ashwin Street. In 2021, they opened an additional outdoor performance space just around the corner from the main building: Arcola Outside. Arcola Theatre produces daring, high-quality theatre in the heart of East London. They commission and premiere exciting, original works alongside rare gems of world drama and bold new productions of classics. They work with creatives from across the globe, acting as a platform for emerging artists, providing them space to grow and explore, and similarly as a refuge for established artists refining their craft. Their socially engaged, international programme champions diversity, challenges the status quo, and stages trailblazing productions for everyone. Ticket prices are some of the most affordable in London, and they offer concessions for under 26s, senior citizens, those on disability benefits and unemployment benefits, as well as industry union members. They produce the yearly Grimeborn Opera Festival, hosting dozens of new and classical works from across the globe.

As part of their commitment to supporting the diversity of the theatre ecosystem, every year, they offer 26 weeks of free rehearsal space to culturally diverse and refugee artists; and our Participation department creates thousands of creative opportunities for the people of Hackney and beyond. Their pioneering environmental initiatives are award-winning and aim to make Arcola the world’s first carbon-neutral theatre. Arcola has won awards including the UK Theatre Award for Promotion of Diversity, The Stage Award for Sustainability and the Peter Brook Empty Space Award.

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