Darkfield Melbourne 2022-23

Overview

Not content with terrifying Melburnians with just one unsettling shipping container installation at a time, the folks at Realscape Productions are bringing all four of their disquieting Darkfield experiences back to the city for another heart-quickening run. The four immersive shows are taking over a Chinatown lot, serving eerie thrills from Friday, December 16–Monday, February 6.

For the uninitiated, each of these interactive experiences involves stepping inside a 40-foot steel box, sitting in pitch darkness and listening to a particularly immersive soundscape while the production plays with your sense of reality.

Included in the lineup is return favourite Flight, which has you strapping yourself into a section of a real commercial airliner, then pondering the many possible outcomes if the cabin suddenly happened to lose pressure. Séance also plays on the concept of sensory deprivation, but instead thrusts audiences on a journey into the supernatural realm as they join a medium in trying to contact the spirit world.

'Flight', by Mihaela Bodlovic

Meanwhile, Eulogy sees participants transported through a dark, labyrinthine hotel under the guidance of a chaperone, with 60-degree sound and speech recognition technology used to lend an eerie dreamlike vibe. Finally, there's 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 imparting a spooky sense of solitude.

The four shows will run at various times throughout the duration of their stay, with general admission tickets available online for $25 ($30 for Eulogy).

'Séance'

Top Image: 'Coma', by Mihaela Bodlovic, Darkfield by Alex Purcell.