Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Low Down
“We are not responsible for your final destination” is written at the bottom of your economy flight ticket with Darkfield. After receiving your ticket, you are split up from your friends and have to brave the journey without them. Set in a dark shipping container, you board a flight and complete most of the journey in complete darkness, with headphones to enhance your sensory experience.
Review
Darkfield are back at the Fringe this year with one of their two new shows Flight. This immersive experience is set in a plane where you go on a virtual flight, all inside a shipping container just in front of the Pleasance Dome. This show has no live actors and relies purely on your senses.
After a brief introduction speech, you are given your ticket, split up from your friends and have to find your seat. You all walk through, single-file into a cramped aeroplane corridor with your seats and earphones on the right-hand side. Old, jazz music eerily plays in the background and you listen to the same instructions on repeat as you put your headphones on. When everyone is seated, the small screens show a flight attendant giving you your instructions with an unnerving smile. After a short speech from the captain, you are plunged into darkness for a moment before the plane takes off. Normal sounds feel immensely unsettling and it gives you a taste of what is to come. The lights turn back on and the screen reappears with the flight attendant who asks you repeatedly to “Leave now” if you want to get off; it was at this point in the experience that an audience member at the front got out before it was too late.
You are thrust into an attack on all the senses as you go on your ‘flight’ and as you go more into the journey, you realise this is not going to be your usual plane ride.
I am sensitive to sound so this experience was particularly effective for me; it definitely achieved its goal of making me feel incredibly uncomfortable. When in darkness, I was amazed that the normal sounds you would hear on a plane made me feel so scared and at one point in the opening blackout, I got goosebumps when the voices of ‘other passengers’ went past me.
The constant soundscapes really made me shudder and were expertly put together. The delivery of the voice actors gave me shivers and the quality of the sound as a whole made it feel like the voice actors were in the room with me.
When you can’t see, all the other senses are heightened so I could feel gushes of air and the vibrations in the floor more than I usually would. It was a strong attack on the senses and one that left me slightly shaky afterwards. When I left, the outside daylight felt blinding and I had pain in my neck which I later realised was from tensing my shoulders so much out of fear during the experience.
This show made me question whether I ever want to fly on a plane again.
Terrifying, tumultuous and terrific; this is an excellent experience and provides an interesting exploration into the world of quantum mechanics. The set is beautifully crafted and the concept is adeptly produced. Darkfield have lived up to their previous experience I saw a few years ago Coma which blew me away. Darkfield also have their other show Arcade on at the Fringe this year at Summerhall.
Flight is on every day between 12:00-15:30 and 18:00-21:00 until it’s last run on the 26th of August. If you’re around Edinburgh in August, this is a show I would highly recommend!
