Darkfield Is Bringing All Four of Its Unsettling, Immersive Shipping Container Installations to Melbourne
Kicking off this month, we'll get our first taste of eerie new shows 'Eulogy' and 'Coma', plus return visits from favourites 'Séance' and 'Flight'.
UPDATE Thursday, July 28: Darkfield's Melbourne run has been extended until August 31 — you can nab tickets here. The following has been updated to reflect the change.
The masters of immersive thrills behind Darkfield are back to give Melbourne some IRL spine tingles. Thanks to the pandemic, Realscape Productions had to hit pause on touring its smash-hit series of eerie shipping container installations, including Séance and Flight, pivoting to at-home experiences instead. But now, Darkfield is finally headed back to our city, with two unnerving new shows and a couple of return favourites in tow.
The series is gearing up to make its Melbourne return from Thursday, May 26–Wednesday, August 31, where it'll deliver four different unsettling productions, each taking place in blacked-out shipping containers and promising to totally mess with your sense of reality.
Making its local debut, is the new (and oh-so-creepy-sounding) show, Eulogy. This one sees audience members transported through a dark, labyrinthine hotel under the guidance of a chaperone. 360-degree sound and speech recognition technology are used to lend an eerie dreamlike vibe, and we're told you'll want to stick to the correct path lest you befall some terrible fate at the end of your journey.
Another Darkfield creation hitting us for the very first time, is Coma, which unfolds as you lie in a bunk bed and tumble into a dream state along with your fellow supine participants. The total darkness aims to impart a spooky sense of solitude, leaving you to be properly engulfed by the show's multi-sensory elements.
Having earned a cult following on previous visits here and overseas, sell-out shows Séance and Flight will also be getting a run throughout Darkfield's visit. The former again plays on the concept of sensory deprivation, thrusting audiences on a journey into the supernatural realm as they join a medium in trying to contact the spirit world.
As the name suggests, Flight takes place on board an imagined plane, sending passengers tripping through dual worlds as they're forced to ponder the many possible outcomes if the cabin suddenly happened to lose pressure. A nerve-jangler, for sure; even for those who aren't afraid of flying.
The four shows are set to make their home in Chinatown at 138 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, with multiple sessions of each running throughout Darkfield's two-month stint. You'll pay $25 for a ticket to Coma, Séance or Flight, and $30 to immerse yourself in Eulogy, while concession tickets all clock in at $20.
'Eulogy', 'Coma', 'Séance' and 'Flight' will appear at 138 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, with various sessions running from May 26–August 31. Tickets are available now via the website.
Images: Mihaela Bodlovic and Alex Purcell