Review: KlangHaus: Darkroom, EdFringe

Review: KlangHaus: Darkroom, EdFringe

Summary

Rating

100

Unmissable!

Free from empty rhetoric, this performance sinks its nails deep into our consciousness, clawing back the attention that the current climate emergency demands.

How would it ACTUALLY feel if the end of the world suddenly came? What if the natural elements that give us a sense of peace – the wind, the sea – abruptly became hostile? What would our senses be telling us then? Who would be there to protect us?

As a part of modernity, human beings have increasingly become a verbal and visual civilisation, drawing and transmitting most of their information through images or spoken word. But what if these weren’t available anymore? What message would we receive from our surroundings?

In this work by KlangHaus – first presented at Cop26 – after a quick introduction, I am taken into a basement room filled with musical instruments and sound equipment. I have a quick look around before the room is plunged in the dark. This is a 20-minute experience for one person only, performed in total darkness – be warned if you think you might not cope well with that.  

With sight removed from the equation, all other senses immediately become heightened. I can hear birds singing, some water sloshing in the distance and the gentle rolling of the sea waves. But these waves become louder and louder, until a huge one swallows me and takes me underwater. I’m shaken and what happens next can only be described as the apocalypse.  

I keep telling myself that I’m on a chair, taking part to a performance, but it’s all so real and a sense of fear is growing inside me. Not for what might happen to me, but as a sense of impotence for what has been lost. The birds are no longer singing, I can’t hear the water anymore and the wind is carrying a burnt smell. Whatever I cannot see around me must be barren and a bout of emotion fills my eyes with tears. Have the elements turned against me? Are the birds gone forever? It’s irrational and deeply unsettling.

Before it’s too late, a small seed of hope appears. Nothing is lost just yet. As I’m invited to move to the next room and share my feedback, the tranquil noise of the sea reassures me that the world is still here. But I now understand better than before how desperately attached to it I am.  

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KlangHaus: Darkroom plays at EdFringe 2023 until 27 August, [times vary]. Further information and bookings here.