The darkly immersive 8-bit experience returns to London for a limited run.
Immersive audio group DARKFIELD brings four works to the shabby confines of The Ditch at Shoreditch Town Hall for a two-week run. DARKFIELD have established themselves as wholly unique in their endeavour to create work that is as fully immersive as possible. Part radio play, part 4D cinema experience, part haunted house, the award-winning outfit has quite the gimmick going on. Tonight I had time for one experience, ARCADE, which tripped out audiences at last year’s BFI Film Festival. Now, it’s the headline work of their East London residency.
The concept of ARCADE is pretty simple. Each audience member is assigned to an upright, retro style arcade console, fitted with a single button to answer yes to questions as we wish, a coin slot, and a tray where tokens pop out as we might need them. With our headphones on we enter the body of Milk, the awkward and unassuming protagonist in a story of violence and political upheaval. There are many possible variations to the story and we are given the chance to begin again if necessary — I somehow managed to get myself killed within the first five minutes. Without giving too much away my story included murder, disguise, and even a bit of romance. Each person, however, will come out with a different story.
What makes an experience at DARKFIELD unique is the essential element of their
immersive stories taking place in darkness. Though already forewarned about how dark the experience would be, I was still floored by just how dark it was — not even being certain if my eyes were closed or not. There is a dizzying strangeness to the scenario, listlessly playing this arcade game in total darkness, detached from the presence of the audience members mere inches away from you.
This darkness creates a dream-like feel to ARCADE. We are lucid, but find ourselves at the mercy of these meandering voices and images. It’s a simple, clever idea delivered with remarkable production. The machines possess a modest control panel, but also vibrate and pound like an anxious heartbeat. The screen, normally totally blank, flashes if we’ve been shot or decide to pull a trigger. Occasionally you see your neighbours’ screens flickering, a reminder that they’re on their own journey, or indeed that they’re in the space at all — it’s very consuming.
It may be enough to rest on their laurels presenting work in such a canny manner, but the story, acting, and audio production of ARCADE are all top-notch. There are moments of post-apocalyptic schtick, but as our story progresses we become further entrenched within the world of Milk. The experience is on the shorter side, running at thirty minutes, and DARKFIELD does offer discounts to experience more than one work per night for those willing to test their nyctophobia. But short run-time aside, once the lights come on we find ourselves wanting to do it all over again.