Darkfield is known for creating audio experiences in pitch black shipping containers and they have returned to London with their 4 shows – Flight, Eulogy, Coma and Arcade. Each production lasts between 20-35minutes long and take you on a very different experience.

Every production comes with a trigger warning that the production is pitch black, so dark that you can’t see your hand in front of your face and deal with themes that some may find distressing.

Flight sees the shipping container converted to the inside of an aeroplane cabin and you begin a flight unlike any other you may have experienced. The attention to detail is brilliant, from the boarding passes being handed out to bags being stowed in the overhead lockers. The soundscape begins typical of any other flight, crying babies, drinks trollies being pushed up and down the aisle but as the flight goes on things take a turn for the worse….or does it. The audio is frightingly realistic and when people were whispering in my ear it gave me genuine shivers down the spine. This is probably not the best experience to undertake if a nervous flyer but I calmed any nerves I had by simply repeating to myself that it wasn’t real!

Eulogy was the next one that I attended where the shipping container is transformed to a hotel basement. In the pitch black with your guide you are transported around a hotel in a dreamlike state. This one, unlike the others I experienced uses your answers to a few questions as you progress through the hotel to influence your journey and the final part of the journey in particular. This one is less frightening but more psychologically intriguing.

Coma sees you enter into a room decked out in bunk beds three high, as a clinical facility. With a pill placed near your head you make a decision if you take it or not and you slip into a collective dream. Whilst it is similar to the other experiences in so far that it is in the pitch black and the audio is incredibly realistic but this one uses other sensory experiences to heighten the journey. This is possibly the most abstract one out of the 4 I experienced and I spent the part of the time in the experience wondering what was happening and trying to understand it.

My final experience was Arcade, in this one you a stood in front of an 80’s style Arcade machine and you are immersed into a war style game where you become one of the characters. Frequently throughout the experience you are given a choice with a yes or no answer and you have a split second to make the decision. It feels very interactive as a result and you really feel like you shape your own story. Speaking to others afterwards they had a very different experience so it was clearly more than a gimmick. This was possibly my favourite one out of the 4 as I felt more in control of my time, possibly it speaks to the control freak within me although it is entirely possible that this control was an entire illusion.

Darkfield is a brilliantly unique night out and unlike anything else I have experienced, the sound design is utterly inspired and is guaranteed to get your heart racing and your mind reeling.

Darkfield is on in London at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park until 2nd November. You can find out more and book tickets here.

If you like this review you might also like my review of Operation Mincemeat, Stranger Things The First Shadow and Stereophonic. You can also check out my thoughts on Darkfield Radio-Double.