It's quite possible to use electronic flash in a dark room without creating harsh shadows, black backgrounds, and overexposed foregrounds--if you know what you're doing.
There are a lot of drawbacks to growing older, but one of the benefits, at least if you've been paying attention along the way, is experience. It came in handy a few days ago when my wife asked me to photograph an event she was participating in. I wouldn't get paid, but I still intended to deliver professional results. I knew from experience that crappy work is bad for one's reputation, regardless of how little the client paid for it.
I also knew to check on the venue. In this case it was a bar above a popular restaurant. Bars tend to be dark and this one was no exception. I would need not only a portable flash unit, but also a diffuser; one that would spread light in all directions. Even though the walls, ceilings and furniture were dark, they still reflected some light, so the more light bouncing around the room, the less it would look as if I was using a spotlight in a coal mine. If I were doing this sort of thing regularly I'd have bought something like a Gary Fong Lightsphere. Since a Lightsphere costs $49.95 and I wasn't getting paid, I made something similar out of a frosted plastic report binder. (I'll show you what it looks like and how to make one in my next post.)
In addition to a portable flash and my Canon EOS 30D, I brought my 30mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4, and a tripod. They all came in handy. Because of the fast maximum apertures, I could set the camera to ISO 400, shoot at f/4, and still get razor-sharp images. (Ever try focusing an f/4.5 zoom in low light? It ain't easy, my friend.)
Experience told me that there would be a "money shot"--the one that would matter most to the people sponsoring the event. In this case it would be at the end of the evening, when the sponsor would hand an oversized check to one of the attendees. I found out where the shot would be staged and who would be in it. These were details that the sponsor had, up until that point, overlooked.
As the evening progressed I basically just documented the activities, stayed friendly, polite and sober, and kept out of people's way. By the time I left, three different people had asked for my business card and whether I was available for future work. So you see, age and experience can pay off--though I suspect youth and experience pay off even more.