ABSTRACT
In the summer of 1998, Tom Morris, the then artistic director of Battersea Arts Centre, programmed a three-month long season of new theatrical works to be performed in total darkness. Although the modern history of theatre is marked by the movement of audiences into darkness relative to a newly and contrastingly illuminated stage, what distinguished the Playing in the Dark season was that the works involved took place in venues in which light was not simply dimmed, but was completely extinguished. Notwithstanding earlier theatrical experiments with darkened conditions, what was noteworthy about the season was the range of artists and performances it engaged – including Theatre de Complicité, the RSC, and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – and the tone it set for theatrical experiments in audience immersion, sound and darkness that have reverberated into wider culture. This chapter considers the legacy of Playing in the Dark as a pivotal moment in which, counter to broader social trends towards ever greater illumination and perspicacity, British theatre turned dark. Drawing on interviews and archival materials, the chapter traces the effects of this darkening from reinterpretations of health and safety legislation to the testing of new and innovative sound designs, and the production of immersive and participatory aesthetics.
