Creator: DARKFIELD
Set inside a shipping container filled with what appear to be simple game arcade cabinets, this immersive experience blurs the lines between game and theatre. Upon donning a pair of headphones, the container plunges into pitch darkness as you enter a grim, violent world that excites at the moment but can lack staying power.
Despite the name and the cabinets where each punter stands, the arcade nature of the piece is never wholly leaned into. Essentially an audio experience, at times lights will flash to life in the pitch darkness of the container, parked outside BFI Southbank, in response to the small interaction allowed – a coin slot for inserting tokens and a button that one can press to answer either ‘yes’ to specific questions asked as the story goes on, while a failure to press the button answers ‘no’.
This interactive element is a unique and clever aspect of the show that introduces a radically branching narrative, leaving audiences experiencing quite different stories through the world of their protagonist ‘Milk’. Most of the fun of the show comes from comparing notes with others afterwards and wondering why something like the political assassination of one’s own story never seemed to figure into theirs or why you missed out on the romantic elements in your own.
This aspect of choice is complemented by the strong physical feedback the show often gives, with the ground rumbling beneath one’s feet and wind blowing into one’s face. All this is matched by top-notch audio design that combines perfectly with the darkness of the space to paint a detailed world with zero actual imagery.
But despite these wonderful effects, it’s an experience that ultimately fails to penetrate much beyond skin-deep, thanks to the fact that these devices are in service to a story that lacks much meaning or cohesion. The journeys that audiences go on appear to be more of a collection of random events with little over-arching connection than anything else.
This weakness in the stories told may be due to the branching nature of the narrative, that by definition, one only experiences a small part of the vast total of the story every time one plays the show. It’s possible that there are paths through the experience that do, in fact, provide satisfying tales, but regardless of this, the slice one does actually experience should still deliver.
Ultimately, then there’s an impressive novelty on display here and genuine entertainment value in the rush of the experience, but without a story to match, it can be something of an empty pleasure.
Runs until 27 October 2024
