Edinburgh Fringe 2026
FLIGHT
Darkfield
Genre: Digital, Experimental, Immersive
Venue: Assembly George Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Certainly not one for aerophobes, FLIGHT takes their usual shipping container conceit and takes you right into the aisle of a plane, where your seat has been assigned and your baggage can be stored in an overhead locker. The set up is uncanny, complete with an overhead tannoy and a message from the captain – and a pre-flight announcement that verges on the darker side of unease.
Review
Darkfield returns! This time, they’ve brought back their 2018 offering for a pitch-black thrill ride set in an airplane where you may or may not reach your final destination. Certainly not one for aerophobes, FLIGHT takes their usual shipping container conceit and takes you right into the aisle of a plane, where your seat has been assigned and your baggage can be stored in an overhead locker. The set up is uncanny, complete with an overhead tannoy and a message from the captain – and a pre-flight announcement that verges on the darker side of unease.
This Schrödinger’s cat-esque thought experiment veers strongly into the horror category, but so then do most Darkfield shows. This felt slightly less effective than some of their other numbers, given that the lights turned back on several times, which had a tendency to break the illusion. Likewise, due to the close seating arrangement of the cabin-style layout, I was acutely aware of the man sitting next to me for the duration of the show, which contrasted directly with some of the information I was being told through the binaural soundscape, but then again, this could hardly be helped.
Overall, through, an impressive exercise in the intersection between technology and theatre, and one that anyone who’s a fan of Darkfield’s oeuvre is sure to appreciate. I overheard one punter in the queue talk about how he’d hit some nasty turbulence recently on a trip to Europe. His verdict on the way out? Not nearly as bad as the real thing. And that, I’d argue, is probably the better result.
