Coma 

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Darkfield’s  audio installations have been coming to the Fringe for a few years now, each housed in their own metal shipping container.

On entering the container for Coma there are bunk beds lined against the two side walls three beds high.  The spacing between the beds is pretty tight so if like me you are not very agile getting scrambled into one is not the most dignified start to the experience. 

Once on your back with headphones on, you are given a couple of minutes in low light to chicken out, then the lights go to complete black out. 

Beside you on a small pill tray is a tablet you are invited to take that to help you feel the journey your mind will be on (don’t worry the tablet is totally harmless). 

A man is talking to you he encourages you to remember your surroundings the colour of the walls – “White? …. No cream” the feel of the bed, the size of the bed, imagine what he looks like. 

During this you hear bed curtains being open and closed words to other (patients?) then to you, you smell his aftershave, the coffee on his breath as he leans in. 

Is this what it’s like to be in a coma, people talking over you, repeating words, repeating days repeating time it's self. The only let up from the monotony a woman coming in to ask you to hold their hand. 

There is a very loud sound that leaves your heart pumping and far more alive than you did 30 minutes before it started. 

This is an experience you should visit if you like things very different, the story in this one is pretty much non-existent. However it lets you explore your mind, thoughts and imagination. 

The real genius of Darkfield is the sound recording, at no point do you not feel the actor is in the room with you, as they whisper in you ear you really feel you could touch them. This is really 5 stars, for me the lack of tangible story is all that drops the marks. 

When leaving try a dignified drop from your bunk!