5 STARS *****
Twenty-five minutes spent in total darkness, with headphones on, listening to a whispering story that is truly disconcerting. Eternal is an audio drama which asks: what would you be willing to do for eternal life?
On entering the space, having listened to the briefing, read the trigger warnings, and still been up for the experience, you are offered a bed upon which to lie. You settle to the right of it, put the headphones on and settle down.
You don’t settle for long.
In your ears comes a soft, lilting voice that starts to talk you through the space in the dark. There is absolutely no term of reference for you – the sounds in your ear seem both close and far away, but feel immediate. This voice speaks of an intruder and the opportunities that taking his deal might bring you.
The softly spoken voice, with a slight Irish lilt to it, comforts at the beginning but then over time becomes urgent, even menacing. That menace is enhanced when the audio on your left side is brought right next to you and you feel it like a presence. But the real scary element in this 25-minute haunting is when your guide speaks in one ear and the noises suggest they are next to you. In the bed with you.
Immediate and alarming.
Eternal is showing at Summerhall’s Old Lab, in a former veterinary college with a dissecting room which retains the name. It feels like somewhere a haunting would comfortably inhabit: if you were looking for a ghost, this has potential.
Darkfield’s site-specific productions have always been artistically challenging, and this is a superior piece of audio production – the use of stereo and mono, Foley artist work, and the mix of many voices that isolate you. They are offering a double bill, with Eternal being a solo show – and boy did I feel like I needed a friend with me. Just not one to climb in beside me! The second show offers the same experience to couples – in the same room, close to you but far enough away to make you feel all alone in the dark.
I slowly rose from my bed, checked that there wasn’t anything underneath it before I left, and continued my day. However … that voice is still somewhere between my left and my right ears.
Darkfield Radio: Double, Visitors and Eternal is on at The Old Lab, Summerhall, until 25th August.
edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/darkfield-radio-double-visitors-and-eternal
