If you’ve ever wanted to submerge yourself in another (considerably more frightening) world of turbulent plane rides and ghostly séances, look no further. The terrifyingly brilliant alt-universe of Darkfield arrives in Sydney to invite audiences into immersive theatrical experiences inside pitch-black shipping containers. Read on for our reviews of Séance and Flight.
Séance
Darkfield’s set-up outside the Powerhouse Museum may appear unassuming, but the extraordinarily dark interior provokes more than enough of the unease necessary for a premium immersive horror experience. Believe me when I say that the interior of the shipping container mini-theatre gets “I can’t remember if my eyes are open or closed” dark.
The lay-out for Séance is quite simple: one long table which the group sits on either side of. Settle into your own velvet theatre seat and throw on the over-ear headphones for a one-of-a-kind show. The quality of Darkfield’s audio experience is truly cutting edge. For our group, the clarity of the sound was actually so incredible that we forgot we were even wearing any headpieces. You can sense the seance host’s voice and footsteps moving about the room – and let’s just say that he’s not the only being you’ll hear. Everyone in the room gets involved, but rest assured that no two experiences will be the same. The attention to detail is so meticulous that the audio was re-recorded with Aussie voice actors after Darkfield’s stints in America and England, so we were told by the crew.
Without giving too much away, be prepared for some spirit-summoning that will have you wanting to retreat into the tiniest corner of your seat. Remember what I said before about the darkness of the room? Well, no amount of eye-scrunching will help you retreat from the chaos that creeps into the space between your ears. The sound effects etched themselves so vividly into my subconscious, that on my way home, once-mundane noises like footsteps turned hostile.
As far as scare-factor goes, my awareness of the fact that the 20-minute seance was, in fact, a simulation prevented me from truly being rocked to the core – meanwhile, my seat-neighbour was gripping my arm for dear life. No matter where you sit on the jump-scare index, the experience is a must-try nonetheless.
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While Séance flirts with more traditional, supernatural terror, Darkfield’s other 360-degree sound experience draws panic from the way it plays games with your mind. Instead of transporting you to an alternate physical destination, this plane ride explores different versions of reality – some where you land safely, and some, well – you don’t.
Just like Séance, Flight is an immensely vivid experience complete with only the most typical of your in-flight amenities. The lucid likeness of the tray tables, a clinking drinks cart, seatbelt signs and a perky air hostess appearing in the tiny screen above your seat might just make you scared to hop on the real thing anytime soon.
If you wanted any indication of the gloom and doom encompassing the affair, the crew informed us that the whole set was retrieved from an aeroplane graveyard in the Central Australian desert. Spooky set or not, let’s just say that I was happy the armrests were there, because gripping them was a necessity.
If you’re someone who finds humour in the existential, you can look forward to dark comical traces throughout the 27-minute escapade. (Just a little warning: you might end up in a Google wormhole about Schrödinger's cat after your “flight”.)
The immersive element doesn’t really begin until the flight takes off. We would have loved to see some more mood-setting before we stepped into the shipping container, like staff members in-character or decoration outside the containers. Perhaps the industrialism of the fencing and the minimalist scribing of the words ‘Séance’ and ‘Flight’ across the 40ft steel containers is its own kind of atmosphere. You can decide for yourself –if you’re not too busy anticipating what lies beyond the container doors.
We reviewed Darkfield’s Flight and Séance during the April 2023 season in Sydney. These experiences return to Sydney in addition to Coma and Eulogy from November 2023 to January 2024 in Barangaroo. Find out more over here.