Inside the Darkness: DARKFIELD’s Glen Neath and David Rosenberg on Immersive Theatre and ARCADE
DARKFIELD creates immersive worlds using complete darkness, binaural sound, and sensory effects — all housed inside custom-built shipping containers. With ARCADE now stationed outside The Lowry, we caught up with co-artistic directors Glen Neath and David Rosenberg to explore their unique brand of 360-degree audio storytelling and the thrill of stepping into the unknown.
To kick us off… tell us a little about DARKFIELD and your journey so far…
We (David and Glen) made a couple of shows together, using sound and darkness, longer shows in the dark, that toured theatres around the UK. We founded Darkfield to explore shorter, more intense experiences that leaned into the unsettling. We were also keen to create our own sets, inside shipping containers, which we could transport around to less conventional venues: Séance, the first of these shows, premiered at Latitude music festival. We’ve since made six container shows which have been presented all over the world.
Tell us about ARCADE
Arcade is a choose your own adventure story, with 35+ radically different paths through it. We’re keen for the audience to get a sense of the size of the world we’ve created as they move through it - a town with a shop, a bank, a job centre, a nightclub, a shooting range, a temple, a border crossing, and a casino as well as offering a route ending on a boat that carries them away. We got excited that people who play the game more than once might come across familiar places from previous plays and see these other versions of themselves making different decisions.
“Arcade is a choose-your-own-adventure story, with 35+ radically different paths through it.”
This is DARKFIELD’s biggest ever Manchester takeover - are you excited to be bringing three containers to the city?
We have only ever presented work in Manchester once before, in 2018, when we sited the Séance container outside the Manchester Royal Exchange. Manchester is a brilliant city so it’s very exciting to be able to bring three of our shows to three venues.
“Manchester is a brilliant city — it’s very exciting to bring three of our shows to three venues.”
What should audiences expect if it's their first time experiencing a DARKFIELD show?
The shows take place in complete darkness - the sort of darkness most of us rarely experience. The darkness allows us to create pieces that give the audience free reign to imagine. We like to think of audience-sized holes in the story that everyone who comes to the shows can fit themselves into. To get the most out of the shows you need to give yourselves up to them - the more room you allow your imagination the better.
What are the excitements of immersive theatre such as this, compared to a traditional venue experience?
You, as an audience member, sit in the set, you don’t just look at it, and the story happens around you and to you in the darkness. All the special effects that we employ also relate to you in a very different way, you feel the show as well as ‘watch’ it.
“If we can effectively whisper in the audience member’s ear, we can make it feel as if the action is happening specifically to them.”
Where do the ideas for each container begin?
We often start with a design, or a seating configuration, which might then suggest some effects. The text is often the last thing we work on.
You have a knack to the uncanny and the unsettling - how does the darkness and binaural sound work to create this environment?
Binaural sound and darkness, when used in conjunction with each other, are very effective at making the experience feel very particular to every audience member. So if we can effectively whisper in the audience member’s ear we can make it feel as if the action is happening specifically to them. This gives us a lot of room to play with people’s anxieties and fears..
Lastly - what three words sum up what audiences might take away from this experience?
Fun - exhilarating - elusive
As well as ARCADE at Lowry - audiences can find DARKFIELD at HOME and Factory International. Check out all three containers for a completely unique, immersive experience this autumn.