Utoya, Arcola Theatre Review

Written by Bronagh for Theatre and Tonic.

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review. All opinions are our own.

Content warnings: strong language, reference to terrorist attacks and death, racist and Islamophobic attitudes.

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Utoya tells the story of the 2011 attacks in Norway from three very different perspectives; a couple whose daughter was thought to be on the island, two police officers and a brother and sister who live on the farm next door to the perpetrators. Utoya shows how trauma and horror can unite people, but also bring out the worst in people and tear relationships apart. This is a UK premiere by Edoardo Erba, an already very well-renowned Italian playwright. 

We are presented with a small stage, with just a table and chairs, the audience surrounding the stage. I have been in Studio One of the Arcola a few times, and there were more seats than usual with the space along the back wall being used. This did feel quite claustrophobic, considering the space is small as it is.

Kate Reid and Marco Young play all six characters, made up of three pairs. Each pair is made up of a male and a female, one seemingly ‘good’ and the other ‘bad’. Both performers put on what I thought to be a good performance; Kate’s Malin, a distraught mother who is worried her daughter has been killed, is particularly brilliant to watch. From the deadpan lines to the pain she is feeling whilst waiting for news, she was great to watch.

All characters cannot believe that the perpetrator of the attacks is ‘one of them’, a fellow Norwegian. They assume the culprit is ‘one of those Muslims’, the Islamophobia and racism rife. There is no shortage of ‘othering’ and it isn’t done subtly with references to ‘the Moroccans’, ‘the Turks’ and many comments on skin colour. You can genuinely feel the shock that the characters feel as more detail comes out about the perpetrator, these three separate pairs who never cross paths are shocked that this could happen in their ‘peaceful country’. 

Scene and location changes are indicated by using lighting, designed by Catja Hamilton, plunging us into darkness as well as adopting softer lighting in those crucial moments. I really enjoyed the transitions between scenes and found they did ‘separate’ the scenes well with no confusion.

Things do start to feel rather Eastenders-esque towards the end of the show, with infidelity uncovered, terminal illness diagnosed and, rather bizarrely, a young girl getting a tattoo of a Rolex. Fair enough, the Rolex tattoo did get a fair few laughs but it also felt a little out of place. Whereas I do absolutely appreciate that these attacks did affect entirely ‘normal’ people with ‘normal’ lives, I am not sure if soap opera subplots quite matched the tone of a show which is about a deadly attack. 

Something that I noted was that the name of the perpetrator is not uttered once, the closest being one character being cut off before saying the name. This is a small detail and one that I very much welcomed.

Overall Utoya was a good watch, however, a show I would likely not watch again. Where I did enjoy the actual performances and the story of the attacks themselves, it just wasn’t completely memorable for me personally.

At the Arcola Theatre until 31st August 2024
★ ★ ★