It might be bright daylight on a busy Melbourne street outside, but once the lights switch off, the darkness is absolute, and your sealed into a private, unsettling reality. There are theatre experiences, and then there are DARKFIELD experiences.
They’ve returned to Arts Centre Melbourne, bringing their signature audio experiences in shipping containers back to Melbourne with a brand new show INVISIBLE and a terrifying favourite, FLIGHT, and trust me, you’ll want to step into the dark.
The collective are known for their unique use of complete darkness and clever sound design delivered through headphones, DARKFIELD puts you inside the story, playing on your deepest fears and your mind’s incredible ability to fill in the blanks.
The latest chilling offering, INVISIBLE questions our understanding of what it means to be present in the world. Is it enough for us to believe we exist or do we need a witness?
The premise is simple: what if you were instructed by an invisible man on how to become invisible? What would the consequences be and what would you choose to do? And most of all it shows that seeing with our eyes is only one part of our perception on reality.
The show plays on a profound, primal fear of erasure. A haunting voice of the Invisible Man guides you through scenarios with extraordinary sound design, creating the sensation of figures moving around you, whispering in your ear, or even breathing down your neck. It’s an intimate and claustrophobic experience that questions the very nature of existence and observation.
INVISIBLE isn’t about jump scares; it’s about a creeping dread, a sense of profound unease that left me feeling exposed and vulnerable long after the lights came back on. It’s a psychological thrill that pushes you to confront your own relationship with being seen, or not seen, in the world.
For those who crave an adrenaline rush that will leave them white-knuckled, FLIGHT returns as a fan favourite for a reason.
You’re strapped into what feels undeniably like a plane cabin, complete with emergency brace position cards, headphones on, and the journey begins. It’s a deceptively normal flight at first with the drone of the engines, the cabin crew announcements, and of course screaming babies.
But then things start to go wrong.
What follows is an utterly terrifying recreation of a plane crash. The container physically shakes, lights flicker erratically, and the sound places you directly in the heart of the chaos. You hear the screams, the terrifying silence, the desperate pleas, all around you, making it impossible to discern reality from the meticulously crafted audio landscape.
The brilliance of FLIGHT is how it taps into universal fears about control, fate, and the illusion of safety. It’s a brutal, visceral experience that feels incredibly real. The intense 25ish minutes show will have your heart pounding and your mind reeling about alternate destinies.
Both INVISIBLE and FLIGHT are sensory assaults that recalibrate your perception of reality. Housed in their signature, disorienting shipping containers at Arts Centre Melbourne, they rely entirely on the power of sound and your imagination to create an unforgettable, often chilling, journey.
If you’re looking to step outside your comfort zone and experience something truly unique in Melbourne’s vibrant cultural landscape, DARKFIELD offers two profoundly unsettling, utterly brilliant opportunities to do just that.
Just remember to breathe.
– Tomas
