REVIEW: EULOGY, Darkfield, EdFringe 2025 ★★★

Get comfy on your laundry trolley, adjust your headphones and brace to be plunged into the pitchest black you will find at Edinburgh Fringe. Darkfield’s Eulogy gives you the reins in this chilling audio experience; your bed is yours to make and lie in. 

The experience value of this show cannot be underplayed – gone is the familiarity of a black box theatre, and instead you enter into unknown surroundings, stepping into a shipping container which rattles and echoes along with the story. The narrative is intriguing and engaging, placing the listener into a situation where they have little control and are constantly playing catch-up to what is really going on. This largely works to build an intriguing atmosphere, but can also sometimes slip into being frustrating and confusing. 

Once you are situated inside your labelled compartment, several checks are completed in a clinical style which reflects the tone of the show. The audience is given a chance to experience the lights going out, and the microphones are checked and tested. Then, the lights are turned off for good, and you are left in total darkness with nothing but your own thoughts and the voices in your ears. 

You are paired with a ‘companion’ – a character who knows the world you’re in and the game being played far better than you do, but also has personal and complex objectives of their own. It feels like you are a tool for your companion, they are taking care of you but you are also there to help them achieve… something. Questions keep arising as you take the lift down several layers, each presenting more uncertainty and shifting atmospheres. Occasionally, you are given a moment of choice, asked a yes or no question that supposedly shifts the direction of your personal narrative. Just as often, your character passes out and wakes up again somewhere completely different, with different people and a whole new environment to navigate. You are always playing catch up, always thrown back in the dark, and the experience is, mostly, very thrilling. 

The performance quality is tight and polished, with the whispering voices in your ear presenting layers of depth that work well to keep you engaged and suspicious of the people you are at the whim of. It does perhaps become slightly cliche at times, falling into the trope of the nefarious scientist-type familiar from a lot of sci-fi horror. This provides a pleasant nostalgia but does venture into the risk of being overworn; it would’ve been nice to hear something more unique. 

The production elements to this work are undoubtedly some of the most careful and sophisticated I’ve experienced. It’s a testament to Darkside’s work that they can consistently deliver experiences that leave the audience satisfied and exhilarated. The audio tracks work in such a way that you can never be sure where the sound is coming from, whether the voices are just in your ears or whether you’re hearing the murmuring of your fellow audience members. Every moment you begin to relax, the space around you does something unexpected, doing a very successful job of keeping you tensely in the moment. 

My biggest problem with this show is how they actually use the dark. In that, they don’t. Aside from a surface-level experiential thrill, the narrative and themes would have a similar if not identical impact if you were instead sat in a well lit room. Not being able to see is never clearly referenced in the show, there is no apparent theme corresponding to sightlessness, and instead I left the show wondering if I’d missed something. The immersive staging of this piece is clearly impressive, but the disconnect between this and the actual story reduces the darkness to more of a gimmick than a relevant production element.

Another disappointment was how the decisions presented to the listener throughout the show did, or didn’t, affect the direction of the story. There were maybe ten yes or no questions within the thirty five minute show. When experiencing this show alone, there is very little to flag whether these decisions actually had an impact on your listening experience. Your answers are shoe-horned into the end in what seemed intended to be a dramatic climax. Instead, this fell flat. This might be more impactful when experienced as a group, when you can compare your personal experience of the show as you leave. 

Eulogy offers an engaging and unique experience, exploring themes of consent and autonomy which provides interesting food for thought, and succeeds in raising the kind of intense reactions that a traditional theatre would struggle to achieve. The potential of the production is limited by its disconnection to the central message of the piece, which leaves you walking away feeling dissatisfied with both. 

It is entertaining, it is interesting, and it is ambitious, but it lacks a nuance and a complexity for it to fully achieve what it aims to. 

Recommended Drink: Blue Lagoon – sci-fi and might glow in the dark. 

You can catch EULOGY at The Terrace at Summerhall from Aug 1-25, 7, at Various Times. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.