The audience files into the shipping container, kitted out to resemble a tiny theatre. We fit headphones over our ears and are given our last opportunity to leave if we suspect we’ll succumb to claustrophobia or fear of the dark. They should add susceptibility to terror to the list.

Once the show begins, we are in absolute darkness. All other senses sharpen. Footsteps pace the wooden boards of a stage. The speaker is instructing us on how to become invisible.

At first it feels as though the audience is sitting in on seminar by a sinister Tony Robbins-style character who is teaching us to explore the temptations of invisibility. What will we do once we master this new skill? His sly voice responds for us — Nothing charitable. He knows we would do all the things we can’t or wouldn’t do when visible.

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At this point, things take a menacing turn. The invisible man paces through the audience, making it clear he knows us – who we are and what we do when alone. He makes demands, his voice low and cunning. It feels as though he’s standing right in front of us, so close that when he whispers in our ear we can hear the saliva in his mouth.

Moments later, Darkfield’s magic shifts gear. Although the audience is sitting inside a dark shipping container, using incredibly detailed binaural recordings, underfoot vibrations and air movement it feels as though we’re moving at speed, only to be deposited in an outdoor environment. It sounds like a reprieve, but the scenario takes a nightmarish turn.

What happens next proves imagination to be the most powerful factor in inducing suspense and horror. Had the audience visually witnessed the scene played out in our ears, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been half as frightening.

By the time the invisible man returns us to the theatre, we are physically flinching from his voice.

This is the Australian premiere of Invisible — one of three disturbingly immersive experiences offered by Darkfield and Realscape Production at The Garden of Unearthly Delights this year, alongside Flight and Séance.

Playing on the temptations of invisibility, this experience transports audiences into a nightmare, the immersive aural environment allowing our minds to flesh out all that the darkness hides. It’s an uncanny ride and 20 minutes both flies by and is more than enough.

Invisible runs at the Garden of Unearthly Delights until 23 March

Read more 2025 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview.