Darkfield Radio: Double, Visitors and Eternal ★★★★

Darkfield Radio: Double, Visitors and Eternal differs from other Darkfield experiences in two major ways. One, it’s not held in a shipping container. Secondly, the experience is actually three experiences that happen simultaneously in the same space; audience members choose which one they’ll do in advance. No matter the choice, everyone will be asked to put on headphones before being immersed in total darkness.

In Eternal, participants lie down in a bed — one person per bed; this isn’t THAT kind of experience — and are asked to ponder the possibilities of an eternal life by a visitor who comes to chat in the deepest hours of the night. Double requires pairs, with one person sitting across a table from the other, a person you might be convinced has been replaced by an evil replica by the time the lights come up. And in Visitors, which also requires two people, one audience member is seated across from another, but this time there’s no table, and there’s a warm-up exercise where it is made clear that some movement will be required because, well, there will be visitors.

Doing all three shows in succession is an enjoyable and interesting experience, and the overall concept of having three experiences timed to work in tandem is very clever. However, if you only have time for one, go for Visitors. It’s the most successful of the trio because it puts you, the audience member, in the center of the action. Double and Eternal have their merits as well but are a tad less engaging and creepy because in those you are at times being told a story as opposed to being the story. All three experiences are worthwhile though, and as is always the case with Darkfield shows, the 360-degree sound design is extraordinary.