Arcade is playing in their latest customised shipping container at The Terrace, Summerhall venue until the 26th of August. Festival boundary-pushers Darkfield’s latest auditory experience is up there with the best of their ever-expanding selection of extraordinary multi-sensory shows.
This is my second Darkfield experience, the first being Coma, which was astonishing in its level of high-quality audio production to provoke the senses and challenge the mind. In Arcade we have a continuation of this form, but where Coma was a largely static piece, here you are compelled to physically respond a number of times in order to drive your story forward.
I found this frustrating, as I wanted to immerse myself in the audio and not be pressured to do anything, as I felt it was drawing me out of being able to concentrate. But suddenly, my inner computer gamer kicked in and I switched my attitude from passive to active and decided to try and ‘win’ the game. From that point, I enjoyed it much more, approaching the options with the cavalier hubris of a gamer who knows they can’t really die and aren’t really hurting anyone. So I recommend you abandon all morality and just see what happens.
It should be noted, you are in complete and utter darkness. If you balk at the notion of having to perform simple (really very simple) actions to move the story on, don’t panic, nobody can see you. It should also be noted that I think this production is best when you go with somebody else. Although the actual show is very much a solo run, you will discover from conversation afterwards that everyone in the container had a wildly different experience, playing perfectly on the ‘choose your own adventure’ style books and later computer games that many of us grew up with.
If you do go alone, be brave and strike up a conversation with someone as you walk away; it was wild to hear how different mine and my wife’s journeys went in different directions.
Arcade is unique, replayable if you can afford it, and a great conversation starter.
