Darkfield is the adrenaline rush and heightened hypersensitivity of the cosmos of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Close to 90% of the universe is this matter and energy, undetectable to our human perception except for the fact that there is this massive discrepancy when calculating the total mass of the universe.
What is the speed of dark? A conundrum worthy of Hawking and Einstein.
Maybe Frankenstein is the appropriate reference. Down to the level of mundane mortals, the Darkfield production team have set up two shipping containers. Séance and Flight. They are self-explanatory.
Chairs line each side, old fashioned Victorian style upholstery. Or the cinema seats you still find at the Hollywood Avondale theatre.
Every seat is provided with large headphones, which cancel out extraneous sounds.
An important detail is the switching off all cell phones. Any outside light source will interfere. Always somebody whose phone will go off in a theatre.
People are given the option to escape, just before the commencement.
Total darkness and it is easy to feel dislocated. It is sound and the narrators voice which then conjure visual images.
Constructed in such a way as to give a surround sound spatial dimension. In the distance or right next to your ear. A commanding voice or a soothing one.
Then the spooks or horror starts as we sense some portal has been opened.
You find yourself living close to your nerves, and it would be easy to get that little extra push to dissemble.
With each 20-minute show, you get a preamble assuring you it really is all in your head.
Flight and we all board the cattle class cabin. The container is authentically decked out in triple seats. Complete with overhead lockers, seat belts, tray tables, safety brochures. The headphones therefore are an expected accoutrement.
Once you’re in, you are like Schrodinger’s cat. A big part of the macabre humour is the Vincent Price style narration which advises you… there are many alternate realities. In some you will be perfectly well.
There you have it. The love of the macabre. The delight of horror. Alfred Hitchcock understood how the mind works, and power of suggestion is much stronger than graphic events.
The physical effects are larger with Flight. Turbulence, wind rushing in.
There were snatches of music. A folk song I couldn’t quite place. What was running through my head was Laurie Anderson’s From the Air.
This is your Captain speaking…We are all going down…
We do get a little taste of sensory deprivation. Twenty minutes is the appropriate length of time. Sound is more important than vision in navigating the realm of the senses. On the savannah of early humans, this is how to locate your prey or your predators.
Darkfield is delightful suspense. Very easy to suspend disbelief as we traverse each macabre story.
Rev. Orange Peel
Darkfield plays in Aotea Square 9 May to 8 June 2025
Tickets available from Auckland Live