27 April, 2024
Basel

I cannot believe he’s not drinking with us tonight… Will I ever be happy again?

This is what he wanted, my pet! Now, let us drink away our sadness in his honour!

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Main inspiration: The Bright Young People/Things, a historical group of 1920s London socialites. Character designs are loosely based on actual members and affiliates of this social circle who are having a fabulous party wake to honour a member who has passed away. 

Concept:

Ashes to ashes; Dust to dust.

Burn Bright Young Thing is a larp experience about a group of party-going socialites in a fictional English-speaking country in the interwar period. They have just lost an essential member of their inner circle and are suddenly reminded of their own mortality again… or are they? Many of them have lost loved ones in the Great War, but the somber atmosphere of fear has long been replaced by a roaring lust for life, absinthe and jazz. Come and explore how the upper echelons of society grieve by attending this extravagant wake. It was the last wish of a bright young thing who burnt out; that his friends and colleagues not mourn his death, but celebrate as if he were still with them.

Experience the 1920s at their most decadent and debauched with colourful historically-inspired characters in a period café and ride in an actual antique tram. Mingle with politicians, poets and performers, singers, soldiers and socialites -- all with intricately intertwined backstories. Before the sun comes up, will these bright young things of all ages have found what they are looking for? Will they have made a decision to change their lives for the better, healthier, less dangerous? Or will they move on to the next party? Which will it be: “Carpe diem,” or “Memento mori?” 

We are aiming for deep immersion and for participants to shed their inhibitions and doubts in a safe environment. It’s not going to be about politics or historical accuracy -- it’s a game about the feeling of wanting to seize the day, the night and everything in between. 

Characters are not designed to be sad and depressed the whole time -- we are looking for a macabre mixture of mourning a friend or acquaintance and the urge to let go and party as if there is no tomorrow. 

Because you don’t need tomorrow; you only need now. All characters are filthy rich, either by lineage or marriage and have no grip on reality whatsoever. Societal conventions, traditions and rules don’t apply to them. Think interwar period Kardashians. We will explore themes of sexual freedom, substance use and abuse and interpersonal connections with love, hate, friendship, longing and betrayal.

After a successful 2023 run in Amsterdam, BBYT is returning, 
this time in Basel, Switzerland.