by Zahid Fayyaz

As part of the London Film Festival’s ‘Expanded’ section, Darkfield return to London’s Southbank for what is their most sophisticated immersive show to date, yet still within their familiar shipping container performance space. In past Darkfield works, you’d be lying down on a bed or sitting in an airplane seat, whilst the production used surround sound and sensory effects to take you into the world of the performance piece. This is generally done with noise cancelling headphones and total darkness, which is also the case here for Arcade.

However, this time around, the audience is standing in front of an 80’s style arcade game machine, and the narrative is controlled by whether the audience presses the ‘Yes’ button, or pays a coin-shaped token into the slot at the relevant time. For the 25-minute duration, the audience is plunged into an audio soundscape which represents a war-torn landscape, with the protagonist involved in different rebel factions and in possession of a fractious memory. It’s hard to explain exactly what you would experience during the show without it being a massive spoiler. As an experience however, its excellent, with the audience’s choices making the narrative more emotionally resonant than if it was entirely down to just listening to the experience statically.

Darkfield have refined their previously successful performances into what is their most ambitious but rewarding experiences thus far. Wherever the container with the arcade consoles turn up next, it’s certainly one worth going out of your way for.

Arcade runs through 27 October.

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