Darwin Festival Review: Seance

 The Show: Seance

The Outlay: $20

Multiple sessions daily until 25 August

Stars: 4

Go sit in the dark in a shipping container they said. It'll be fun they said. 

My colleague, Sam, pinged me during the morning. "We're going to go to Seance tonight. Wanna come along?"

"Sure." I'll go to the opening of an envelope. Why not. 

It was a mad dash to find an Uber back to town from the depot, where I'd spent the day, got back to my room, dumped my stuff and met the other three in the lobby just after five. The Sam and Ani and Prakash and me wandered over to the lawns outside Government House to have this 'experience'. 

And an experience it was.

You pay your money and go at your allotted time, knowing that they have a strict lockout policy. A pommy guy with a lurid green manicure gives you a rundown of the event. 

• The experience lasts 20 minutes
• It occurs in complete darkness
• You're to turn off your phones and put smart watches in a place where no light can seep out. They're very militant about this. 
• If you're claustrophobic, have PTSD or are very sensitive, this probably isn't the show for you. 
• Once the door is closed, there is no chance to get out. 
• Also, as you'll be wearing headphones. If things get a bit much, take them off and you'll be up for the most expensive meditation session you've ever had. 

In having a few words with the guy before the show, I asked him what to expect. He said that it would play to my fears, but you were safe. I asked if there were spiders in there. There are no spiders - or snakes

We filed in. The guy with the green talons explained it all again. We sat down in the old theatre seats, shoved on our headphones and the experience commenced. 

Wow. 

What Darkfield has done with Seance is produced an incredible soundscape which really does scare the bejesus out of you. You're asked to keep your hands on the table in front of you. You feel the vibrations. You hear bells ringing. You're taken on a story of an active seance where you are made to believe that you're in the presence of ghosts. 

It was very unsettling in places, as you take in the vibrations and the soundscape as it goes on around you. As you're in complete darkness you don't know what's real or not. You're asked to keep your hands flat on the table but puzzled by the footsteps which are apparently going on around you. 

For me, after a while, it was a case of mind over matter. You're safe. It's 20 minutes. If it's too much, take your head set off - which I did near the end when it felt like somebody was whispering in my ear and I wasn't liking it at all. 

And then it was over at 20 odd stragglers emerged from the darkened shipping container with varying senses of relief.

This is definitely worth a look, even if for me, I went and had a nice soothing ice cream at Johnn Johnns before going to the supermarket and going home. There is something restorative about Snickers and Black Magic ice cream. (The latter is like a vegan bounty bar - coconut and dark chocolate. Yum).

 As somebody who doesn't particularly like being scared, and with a fairly brief bereavement on board, i coped with this well. 

I was more amazed what the Darfield people are doing with sound and vibration. 

Today's song: