Over recent years, the Darkfield production company has become synonymous with exciting immersive theatrical experiences which use ingenious sets, binaural sound, and darkness to place each participant  at the centre of a unique narrative.  Darkfield Radio was launched at the height of Covid and was designed to be an audio experience (aka radio play) in the listener’s own home. This year the production is brought to Edinburgh with new staging. Three completely different short radio shows – ‘DOUBLE’, ‘VISITORS’ and ‘ETERNAL’ have been designed to run simultaneously in a room which is interspersed with beds, chairs and doors leading nowhere:

This reviewer signed up for ‘VISITORS’ – a thoroughly surreal experience. It’s designed to be experienced by two people sitting opposite each other. Once the headphones are on and the lights are out, it becomes clear that there is another couple, this time dead, Jean and Alex, who try to use the listeners as a vehicle to return to life. At one point the lights come on and there is an instruction to stand by a door. Unfortunately, the nearest door that this reviewer stood beside was open and there was very nearly a nasty accident/ highly comic moment.

The whole experience was quite strange and existential. We don’t learn who Jean and Alex are/ were, nor is the significance of standing by a door very clear. It’s clear that the work is touching on themes of separation and the desire for physical closeness but it is short, and in the time allotted doesn’t engender the same thrill and  state of suspense experienced in some of Darkfield’s other offerings.

Unless you want to lie on a bed for 20 minutes  – ‘ETERNAL’ takes place on a bed – so would be appropriate for those who have been tramping the streets of Edinburgh all day and need to put their feet up.  ‘Eulogy‘ is by far the better way to experience Darkfield’s  unique brand of immersive theatre.

DARKFIELD RADIO: ‘DOUBLE’, ‘VISITORS’, and ‘ETERNAL’ are at Summerhall – Old Lab until Mon 2 Aug 2025 at various times