Darkfield Norwich – Séance & Arcade
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- June 15, 2024
For those unfamiliar with DARKFIELD, they are pioneers in creating immersive 360-degree audio experiences, blending innovative technology with theatre. DARKFIELD employs stunning sets, complete darkness, binaural sound, sensory effects, and shipping containers to place each participant at the heart of intense and evolving narratives.
If you experienced ‘The Invitation’ at Alton Towers Resort’s Scarefest (2022-23) or ‘Terminal’ at Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights (2022), you might be surprised to learn that DARKFIELD were behind each of these attractions. Collaborating with the theme parks’ creative teams, DARKFIELD crafted unique auditory experiences for each Halloween event. However, DARKFIELD’s audio adventures extend well beyond theme parks, with numerous spectacular installations travelling the globe to entertain audiences!
Here in the UK, Eulogy provided Norwich residents and visitors, in 2023, an otherworldly journey through a dreamlike, labyrinthine hotel that exists entirely in your mind, leaving guests questioning how they arrived and why you’re there a complete mystery. This year DARKFIELD are back (in conjunction with Norwich Theatre Royal) to bring not one, but two more chilling audio experiences to the city!
Thanks to DARKFIELD and Norwich Theatre Royal, First Drop Photography had the opportunity to explore and experience both SÉANCE, their first audio experience, and ARCADE, their latest.
SÉANCE
As previously mentioned, SÉANCE is the first DARKFIELD audio experience to tour, but don’t think that you’ll receive anything inferior because of this!
With the interior of a 24ft container transformed into a Victorian séance room, the experience explores the psychology of a group of people, over 20 minutes, and asks that they believe!
After our tickets were checked, bags put in the storage box, and the safety briefing given, we entered through the black flaps to be transported back into time to the Victorian era. Immediately, the smell of the old room hits your nose as you take your seat around the table and put on your headphones, ready to take part in the séance and receive messages from the beloved who have long since passed! Anxiously, everyone looks around the room and each other as they wonder what they’ll encounter!
Click here for a Spoiler(ish) Review
With the room plunged into darkness, footsteps can be heard from one side of the room as the medium enters the room ready to safely establish a connection with those who have passed. The gentleman gives clear instructions that hands must be placed on the table and should not be removed. He then asks the participants present in the room if they believe with those who do not being ordered to get on the table. As they do so, you can feel their weight bow the table and move it slightly. Of course, this is all audio effects, coinciding with movement of the table and at no point do any of the audience move from their seats – it is all part of the show!
As a connection is made, the bells within the room ‘ring’ and questions are asked to the beloved. Throughout, a strong rumble and vibration can be felt, with more obvious movements being sensed through the table as the medium asked questions and the sprit responds.
Of course, things don’t go to plan, and it appears that one of the group has broken the connection by removing their hands from the table. There, an unknown entity is summoned within the room which then chooses a host to live within – but will it be you?
With the experience drawing to a close, the light returns to the room, with everyone present within their seats, as they, entered, but who has been chosen? Exiting the container, the brightness returns, leaving you questioning the events that took place within!
SÉANCE is a thoroughly enjoyable experience which, if you allow yourself to enjoy without resistance or questions, allows you to be emersed into the story, and believing you are there, helped by the binary sounds and sensory effects deployed by DARKFIELD. Our group came out with smiles on their faces, talking to staff and others within the group about their experience!
GALLERY
Please note: Photography is not allowed within the installation. Permission was given to First Drop Photography to capture inside of each attraction.
SÉANCE is recommended for those aged 14+. It contains themes of death, loss, and spirits.
ARCADE
ARCADE is the latest immersive audio experience from DARKFIELD, but this isn’t an ordinary arcade, and these are not ordinary arcade machines. Using the nostalgic 8-bit aesthetic of 1980’s video games, ARCADE’s interactive narrative explores the evolving relationship between players and avatars.
Just like SÉANCE, a safety briefing is given, along with instructions to the interactive elements contained within before players are allowed within the container. As you enter through the black curtain flaps, you are instantly transported back to the 1980s as you hear 8-bit music play within and observe the bright neon fluorescent lights reflecting of the mirrored ceiling and the eighties carpet. Once bags are placed within the storage boxes, players are instructed to choose a machine and place on the headphones provided, each machine titled ‘I AM MILK’.
Before the lights go out, ‘players’ are advised to take note of the button in front of them. By pressing this button within one second of a question being asked within the game confirms a “Yes” response. Should it not be pressed within one second, a “No” response shall be given. In addition to the button, ‘players’ are advised to take note of the coin slot and coin return locations as they will also be used. Within the story, only 5 seconds will be given to locate the tokens issued in the coin return and be spent when inserted into coin slot.
Click here for a Spoiler(ish) Review
ARCADE is a dark audio adventure that questions your morals when survival is at stake. The machine sucks you into the mainframe, and you realise you are now part of an alternate dimension. Are you a gaming character? An avatar? Living an alternate life?
One thing is for sure… I am Milk!
Someone knocks at your door. Do you reveal you’re inside or stay silent?
Early on, a wrong decision leads to death. An unexpected gunshot resonates, and you feel a bolt of air hit your chest and water splash on your hands and face, simulating a gunshot wound. Fortunately, with two lives remaining, Milk is rebooted to the start of the scene. Determined not to repeat the mistake, you choose an alternative path, opting for all-out war… survival of the fittest. Tokens must be gained and spent as you navigate a war-torn setting. Survival depends on not what you know, but who you know!
Soon, a mentor discovers you on the street, armless and tokenless. He guides you to a corner shop selling firearms and bullets. With the one token given by your newfound friend, you receive a cursed gun free of charge, as the shop owner is eager to be rid of it. You try to buy bullets, but with only one token, you can afford just one, and the lady won’t budge on her prices.
Before you know it, your mentor is killed by two men who enter the shop for supplies. You are led to a gang leader who might help you, as you are taken under their wing, but a mysterious woman warns you about your involvement with the men, and you both slip away in an attempt to escape. Air can be felt around your hands, signifying a change in environment and temperature.
Things take a turn for the worse when you decide to aim and shoot a character in the nearby woods. Depending on your path, you can shoot with bullets obtained from the corpse. Will they reveal your location or help you?
Your decision is frowned upon, and you find yourself alone in the woods. Soon, a chauffeur picks you up, knowing exactly who you are. You’ve been watched. On the radio, you learn there’s a hefty reward for you, but you are led to a crime ringleader. Here, more decisions are made, and more tokens are spent. Will you emerge as a winner?
This time, Milk won, but with various routes and different endings, your experience may differ from the person standing next to you!
ARCADE is another thoroughly enjoyable installation, but darker in its tone and storytelling.
While SÉANCE gives the same story to all, participants, ARCADE makes it possible for the people around you to have a completely different experience and outcome. Some will emerge as “winners” while some may not, keeping true to the arcade theme, and games which we have all grown to love, therefore the description given above may completely differ to your own experience within the arcade! Not only does this make ARCADE a unique experience, when compared to SÉANCE, it also gives guests the option to visit again and experience a completely different adventure!
ARCADE is recommended for those aged 16+. It contains themes of violence to humans, including children, and animals, death, warfare, explicit language, and sexual content. No humans or animals were harmed in the making of ARCADE.
GALLERY
Please note: Photography is not allowed within the installation. Permission was given to First Drop Photography to capture inside of each attraction.
Current Performance Dates
At the time of writing, DARKFIELD will be attending the following events and destinations:
Jun 5, 2024 – Jun 16, 2024
SÉANCE & ARCADE @ Norwich Theatre
Jun 12, 2024 – Jun 16, 2024
EULOGY @ Download Festival 24
Jul 11, 2024 – Aug 11, 2024
DARKFIELD @ Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Jul 17, 2024 – Jul 28, 2024
ARCADE @ Bradford Festival
Jul 31, 2024 – Aug 26, 2024
FLIGHT & ARCADE @ Edinburgh Fringe 24
