When the end comes it is said that the light fades from your eyes and everything goes dark. That image is the visual put forth from New Edgecliff's Darker written by Catie O'Keefe. Light and Dark run heavily through this production. Keeping the characters and the audience 'in the dark' takes on an additional importance. Love, death, the power of the impending darkness puts a sensual story on stage with a hazy situation where the past is seeping into the present.
The cast of Michael Carr, Mindy Heithaus, and Jeffery Miller are all excellent. They know their characters and show no fear in playing off each other. The set and costumes, designed by Jim Stump, were the best I have seen in Fringe this year. It is risky to have a set and lighting design as elaborate as Darker used, but Stump made it work really well with the limits placed on Fringe productions.
The story was a good concept. It was thought provoking and had strong dialog, but it needs something more. There wasn't too much to the story as often happens in theatre. This production fits well with being about an hour long. The backstory needs more context. The ending would be more dramatic if the build-up had more basis. As a writer, I love the concept it explores, but the power struggle that goes on between the characters takes more of the focus than the mind blowing resolution of the story.
Overall, the show is a very enjoyable piece, that gives the audience much to see and hear as the light fade.