QUICKFIRE FRINGE: #4. Séance

★★★☆☆

The concept of Séance is simple. 15 minutes, headphones in, complete darkness.

It's part of a trio of works under the name DARKFIELD which all take place in a pitch black shipping contained and utilise headphones. Without sight, our sense of hearing becomes even more alert and so with a carefully crafted binaural soundscape being fed into our ears, our imaginations create their own sense of the surrounding space, something terrifying in itself. It's clear that the most impressive thing about this show is no doubt the technology and use of such to confuse the senses in this way as aside from this, the "story" itself is quite rushed and abruptly ending. It definitely acts more as a vessel for the tech than anything that could stand alone. I wanted more from them in this area, but had I been watching this for more than 15 minutes I think I would have lost interest. It's a smart show in many ways, but, for me, lacks purpose.

Above all, running at a mere 15 minutes it's an ideal thing to slide into your day and is particularly handy at the Fringe or any other Festival. It's experimental and forward-thinking theatre and in the future I hope to see the ideas behind Séance taken even further used in a less obvious context.