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Eulogy_Lobby_Postcard

Eulogy, Darkfield

Runtime: 30 minutes

Eulogy is a sensory experience, or even more accurately a sensory deprivation experience, that takes place in a dark shipping container, equipped with laundry trolleys and headphone sets, ready to simulate a chilling hotel. As the participants gather outside the container ready to get their tickets scanned, the tension is palpable. There’s a murmur of excitement, anticipation and unrest. Some audience members, more anxious than others, or maybe curious, immediately ask around about other shows by Darkfield for reassurance, a glimpse into the performance that is about to begin. Everyone has been given a business card that reads the name of a suite and a cryptic promise ‘Come in as guests. Leave as staff’. Each suite name corresponds to a laundry trolley where the participants will sit waiting for the container door to shut and to fall into darkness, only after having tested their headphone sets. Hearing is the only sense you have access to during Eulogy. Before the show starts, a member of staff walks the participants through some of the elements of the performance, absence of light and 360 degree binaural sound. The technical elements of the performance are crucial to its execution, in fact the highly advanced technology utilised allows the audience to fully immerse themselves into this world by focusing on their sense of hearing and blocking out the rest of the world.  The central position of the sound system and environmental effects highlights how much technological advancement has affected, inspired and transformed the arts, including theatre.

Before the show begins, a member of staff gives the participants the option to opt out and leave the container. The last chance to walk out. This warning serves more to raise expectations than to actually provide the audience with a safe exit, sure they’re offered the option to, but it seems like a highly unlikely choice. Headset on, mic close to your mouth, lights off and the adventure begins. Each participant is asked a set of questions. They must really know their target audience, the following questions felt way too familiar and really hit home, ‘are you allergic to shellfish’, ‘do you sweat more than others’, ‘are you more anxious than others’, ‘do you feel comfortable speaking in public’, and the game had only just begun. This performance is like a game, an anxiety inducing show. It’s an interactive experience, each participant is paired with a companion based on their answers to the previous questions, a chaperone that will help them navigate the hotel and prepare them to deliver a eulogy. The chaperones ask questions that lead to different rooms of the hotel and shape the narrative of the story, deliberately confusing, creepy and anxiety inducing. The participants leave with plenty of unanswered questions, wondering if they all had the same communal experience, or at least final outcome and resolution. As far as immersive theatre goes, Eulogy delivers above and beyond expectations. Sweaty hands, a racing heart, chest tightness and confusion sound like concerning symptoms of a health condition, in this case they indicate a thrilling, suspenseful and well executed show by Darkfield.