Darkfield, the producers of innovative, immersive experiences at the forefront of technology and theatre, return to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with their brand new shipping container show, ARCADE, premiering as part of Summerhall’s Festival programme, and the return of fan-favourite show, FLIGHT, at the DARKFIELD site outside Pleasance Dome, first established in 2022.
Ahead of opening, co-artistic director of Darkfield, Glen Neath filled us in on all the details on their new experience, ARCADE, and what people can expect from the show.
Q&A with Glen Neath
How does it feel to be returning to Edinburgh Fringe?
We love coming to the Fringe. Edinburgh has been a great place to showcase Darkfield’s work and we’ve been every year since 2017, with the exception of Covid year 2020. We generally premiere a new show at Summerhall and for the last three years have also managed to open some of our other containers outside the Pleasance Dome.
What can you tell us about your show and its inspiration?
ARCADE uses the nostalgic 8-bit aesthetic of 1980’s video games to tell an interactive narrative exploring the evolving relationship between players and avatars. It is a choose-your-own-path experience in a completely dark shipping container, employing 360 degree binaural sound and sensory effects.
Players guide their avatar through a world ravaged by endless war. There are many routes and many different outcomes. Our last show, Eulogy, toyed with the idea of branch narratives and we wanted to explore more this idea that every audience member could be having a different experience within the same world of the show.
How do you think audiences will react to the show
We want our audiences to leave the container excited about the size of the world they’ve been moving through, interested in what other journeys other audience members have been on, and keen to give it another go.
How have you been preparing for the festival?
We’ve been adding more possible journey outcomes and running the show in various cities in the UK: Nottingham and Norwich, gauging audience responses.
Will you get a chance to enjoy the rest of the festival?
I will only be in town for a few days at the start to open the shows. But I will try and see a few shows in the short time I have – last year the stand-out show was Dark Noon by Fix+Foxy. I’ll be hoping to catch something as good again this year.
ARCADE is at Summerhall, Edinburgh from 31 July to 26 August 2024
