By Jessica Taurins
From the outside, the shipping containers marked FLIGHT and SÉANCE don’t seem like much. Painted an unassuming white, shining in the hot Melbourne sun, it seems as if they were just dropped there accidentally.
Perhaps, almost, as if they came from another world?
Darkfield is a collection of multisensory experiences in total darkness, including (but not limited to) Flight and Séance, which return to Melbourne after a tour around the country. Not for the faint of heart, or those afraid of the dark, the Darkfield shipping containers contain entire worlds, some similar to our own, and some… a little different.
With the Melbourne sun beating down upon us, it’s an interesting experience walking into our first experience – Flight. We go instantly from a heatwave to a cool, dark… plane. The shipping container houses half a plane, complete with seats, windows, a TV screen for in-flight announcements, and even in-flight safety cards. It is EXACTLY like walking onto a plane, aside from the headphones hanging over each seat.
From start to end, Flight is an incredibly, terrifyingly realistic plane trip to a destination I am loathe to spoil. The concept is of two worlds, one where the flight lands safely, and one where it… perhaps does not. As someone with minor plane anxiety, Flight played on every one of my fears, seamlessly blending realism and surrealism to the point where I was gripping the arm of my chair even though I knew I was completely safe.
Darkfield experiences – as is in the name – are set in complete darkness, where light is only rarely used for dramatic effect. Flight is set atop a motion platform, where the rumblings of takeoff (and other, more threatening events) come up through the floor to make your body feel like you’re in the sky.
In addition, the headphones are completely noise cancelling, so the sounds of people walking past you, the baby over your shoulder, and the ASMR-esque whispers of a flight attendant offering you snacks… those are all you can hear. The actual, real people beside you disappear (unless you clutch their hands out of fear, which I DEFINITELY did not do) as the story plays out inside your mind.
Despite the darkness, there were still moments I had to close my eyes out of fear, as though closing them could stop the dialogue playing out in my head. I left the shipping container shaking – in a pleasant way, like during the penultimate scene in a thriller film – and I had to sit for a while to remind myself that it was not real.
Having only experienced two Darkfield sessions, I still feel confident in saying that Flight is the best they offer. Aside from moments where the sound was a little too ear-splitting and I had to move the headphones away from my ears, Flight and its story were brought to disturbing life in my brain as I sat in the darkness, half-waiting to die.
Unfortunately, following Flight with Séance was perhaps not the best way to experience the shows.
I will say, I was sceptical of Séance even before entering. I tried to avoid spoilers beforehand for both shows, wanting to experience them with no preconceived notions, so all I knew were the titles, both self-explanatory. Even prior to the experiences, I had assumed I would enjoy Flight more, as while I don’t believe in ghost stories, I do strongly believe in plane crashes – and after experiencing Séance I was proven right.
For those who are uneasy about the thought of spirits and ghosts, or calling them back to our plane of existence, I’m sure that Séance will absolutely hit the spot. As we entered the shipping container we were transported to the dark room of a medium, with textured walls and a long, shared table down the centre of the container.
After we seated ourselves and pulled on our headphones, the lights went out and the story began. Again, to avoid spoilers, I won’t recount it all, but as a person with no belief in any sort of afterlife, nor the ability for souls to return from said afterlife, Séance didn’t thrill me as much as Flight.
Séance’s multisensory moments were powerful – the table creaks and bounces beneath your hands as characters move around the scene, and there are smells pumped into the room as they are described in the monologue – but the story itself felt lacking in some small way. Perhaps it was my lack of an open mind, or perhaps I spent too much time comparing it to Flight, but the overall experience of Séance was not as all-encompassing.
If (when, most likely) Darkfield returns to Melbourne, I will be first in line to experience the other shows. Regardless of how much the content of Séance didn’t ‘hit’ for me, the highly mental experiences augmented by physical interaction were so utterly creative and incredible that I could not be kept away.
On a hot summer’s day, respite inside an air-conditioned room sounds fantastic. On top of that, Séance and Flight are both thrilling and terrifying experiences for the right crowds and should be top of everyone’s summer holiday to-do lists.
Images: Axis Productions and Tash Williams
