I’ve still not fully recovered
Adam is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter for the Manchester Evening News, covering new restaurant and bar openings, food reviews, gig reviews, and issues that matter to the LGBTQ+ community. Adam joined the M.E.N in 2019 as a Facebook Community Reporter and also runs the LGBTQ+ Bulletin newsletter.
You can now board a flight, take part in a séance and enjoy a choose-your-own adventure arcade game right inside a shipping container in Manchester
It’s the middle of the week, and I’m boarding a flight. There’s a baby crying behind me, and a nearby passenger is already complaining about the plane’s fridge being broken (there’s no ice).
To make matters worse, I don’t know where I’m going and my boarding pass specifically tells me that the airline is not responsible, under any circumstances, for my final destination. It’s all, quite frankly, a lot to deal with for a Wednesday night.
But I haven’t found myself on some spur-of-the-moment twisted version of Race Across The World. No, it’s actually a bit weirder than that.
I’m in a 24ft shipping container outside Aviva Studios. The flight isn’t real, the passengers aren’t real, and, being honest, I’m not sure if any of it is real at this point.
Just an hour earlier, I had my hands laid out on a table in a Victorian parlour room – all in pitch darkness, mind – as I partook in a séance where all kinds of demonic beings were conjured up.
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SEANCE is eerie and not for the faint-hearted(Image: Sean Pollock)
The two experiences are part of a trio of shows which have arrived in Manchester from the acclaimed immersive producers DARKFIELD. They’ve taken their shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Fest and even Latitude Festival, and have now chose three prime locations in this city for the next leg of their tour.
The idea is fairly simple and I am going to try and avoid explaining things too much as I really do feel like the best thing about the experience is going in blindly and not knowing fully what to expect. But a bit of housekeeping is always valued, right?
All three shows are set in pitch darkness. Phones, watches and any other electrical devices which might beam a notification must be turned off. You’re then given a set of headphones which will guide you on your auditory journey, whilst the environment will also adapt, interact and maybe even move around you.
FLIGHT sees you inside a life-like plane, but the experience is far from ordinary(Image: Mihaela Bodlovic)
SEANCE, is located at HOME Manchester, whilst FLIGHT is at Aviva Studios. That’s one to seriously consider skipping if you’re a nervous flier. And none of them are perhaps good if you’re claustrophobic. I’m just being honest.
Across the three experiences, there are also a range of sensory delights to prepare for including some light flashes, gunshot sounds and sprays of water – It is interactive, after all, and will make you hear, feel and imagine things that might not even be there in the first place.
Because the shows are held in total darkness, my mind went to town with the whole experience and played tricks on me. There were points I swear my ears popped whilst ‘on board’, and I genuinely felt that everyone else in the room had left me alone during the Séance.
Nothing to see here, just a séance taking place inside a shipping container
There’s also a third experience called ARCADE, which is situated outside the Lowry in Salford Quays. This actually proved to be my favourite of the three as there are some really cool interactive elements to the story. Props to artistic directors David Rosenberg and Glen Neath for their creativity on these shows.
Once inside, you are positioned, with headphones in tact, in front of an arcade machine where your choices will decide the outcome of the story. And it can get quite full-on based on how you choose to press your button. It’s basically like Tron meets choose-your-own-adventure Goosebumps book and that is a high compliment.
You get to choose how the story goes in ARCADE(Image: Mihaela Bodlovic)
You also get a token during the ARCADE experience which you can choose to ‘spend’ how you wish during the story. No spoilers, but my choice royally screwed me over. And the characters kept reminding me of it until the end – they won’t forget any decision you make, and there are consequences for every action you take.
The experiences are aimed at people aged 14 and above, and tickets start from £13 each. You can get a 10% discount if you book to see more than one of the experiences, so it will work out a little cheaper if you want to do the trio like I did.
Seance, one of the three experiences, is being shown outside HOME(Image: Mihaela Bodlovic)
None of the experiences last longer than 30 minutes each, but, especially with SEANCE and FLIGHT, I don’t think I could have hacked much longer as my senses and mind were already going to town and needed to pause and reflect.
It makes for a really imaginative night out and it’s certainly something different which doesn’t involve alcohol. Although, stopping off for a drink afterwards to compress and digest exactly what just happened will probably end up being required. It was for me.
The three experiences are running in Manchester now until Sunday, September 21 with time slots running from 1pm to 8.30pm. Tickets to FLIGHT at Aviva Studios are here, tickets for ARCADE at The Lowry can be bought here, and SEANCE tickets at HOME are here.
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