Enjoyably unique show with a dense narrative and an unconventional structure.

Experienced: August 24, 2017
Location: Undisclosed
Address: Los Angeles, CA 90015
Price: $60 ($50 with Midsummer Scream presale)
Audience Size: 20
Runtime: 120 minutes
More Information: Order of Bileth Site, Instagram, Twitter

The group of us waited, as instructed, by the alleyway before Jeremy came out and called our names. We were told to line up in the order called before being escorted into the venue. We walked up a flight of stairs and through a couple of rooms before entering a lounge where a group of people were waiting for us.

Steven Lundy, 1st Leading Knight of the Order of Bileth, welcomed us all to Remembrance Day. This was described as a night of celebration and one where we would “see for yourself the fruits of your labor.” We were given the chance to mingle with each other as well as with the members who were already present before we arrived. We were offered (paraphrased): fruit cut into pleasant shapes, water with and without bubbles (also with and without sugar), sweets, and snacks.

The first, and longest, portion of Remembrance Day was structured as a casual meet and greet with about 6 characters scattered throughout the lounge area. We could decide to approach any of these members in any order we wanted. We could have spent the whole time with one or try to talk to all of them. This wasn’t explicitly stated as such but soon became obvious as they started to engage with us.

During this time I learned a lot about the inner workings of the Order of Bileth. Through the various interactions with the members I learned the history, motivation, and sometimes drama between some of the characters.

I quickly discovered that Alice, Steven Lundy’s assistant, was recently brought into the picture by Henry. She has an almost unhealthy disdain for Jeremy and I decided to tell him about this. He was mad yet unsurprised before revealing to me that she came out of nowhere to take his job and now he was stuck handling the catering. He didn’t know what was in her little book that she carries around everywhere. Little things like this were fun to play with and explore. When talking with Alice she suddenly started asking a few of us random questions like a taste we dislike, our shoe size, and whether or not we would be ok with an entity entering our body (what??).

As we were exploring the various backstories people’s names were called out every few minutes to go through a “test”. This test was conducted, mostly blindfolded, with our body being moved around, lotion (or water) rubbed up and down our hands and arms, paint applied to our faces, being forced to drink an unknown liquid, and being measured head to toe. I can’t be too sure I was being measured but that’s sure what it sounded like with the blindfold on.

At one point I was pulled aside in a choke hold by someone who said “I know you but you don’t know me, at some point they will ask you to drink something, take this to counteract it” and shoved a little pill into my hand. He must be who I was emailed about a few days earlier from someone named wk (doubleyou kay). The email warned me about the goings on with the Order and was part of a resistance. Wk mentioned “a society member will find you that night. trust them. please.”

The test ended with a neat scene where my blindfold was lifted for a moment to witness a woman with a mask dancing in the distance. The blindfold was put back on and quickly lifted again as she is standing a foot away. It was startling and she started to talk to me about how we all wear masks as she takes her mask off to reveal yet another mask of what appeared to be someone else’s face. She asks if I’m ready to take my mask off. I took it to mean she was going to cut my face off but I nodded anyway. She then opened the door and I was back in the lounge.

After everyone went through the test sequence Steven Lundy gathered around for a speech. Order of Bileth pins were given to all attendees to commemorate Remembrance Day. In a touching moment Steven knighted Carl, a participant of prior pop-up events and the ARG, the 6th Leading Knight of the Order. He seemed genuinely surprised.

Shortly after the knighting Steven talked about a missing 2nd Knight and that she had served her penance for the wrongdoing that got her kicked out in the first place. He welcomed his daughter Rachel back to the Order. She was a girl who was introduced in the welcome ceremony as the youngest Order member. She had appeared very distracted and shifty throughout the night but she chalked it up to just being shy when asked. Steven never mentioned she was his daughter or a 2nd Knight prior and I’m not sure if that was news to everyone or just to those not following the ARG.

After this speech we were escorted to the finale. Steven Lundy spoke of bringing Bileth back to walk on this earth. That we were all tested to find the perfect human vehicle for Bileth’s return. We were thinking one of us might be chosen when Steven reveals his daughter Rachel was decided to be the perfect specimen. She proceeds to freak out and melt down pleading with her father not to do this to her. She says she’s scared. She’s screaming.

Suddenly Henry starts to yell at Steven scolding and cussing at him saying he was making decisions for personal reasons implying he didn’t have the best interests of the Order in mind. He accuses Rachel of being wk and that it all happened on Steven’s watch right under his nose. Henry restrains Steven and proceeds to have Rachel strangled in front of all of us. Steven is let go and he crawls to his now dead daughter and Henry yells at all of us to leave.

As you can see the story is very dense and I definitely didn’t understand all of it. In that sense it felt very real because, like in life, this wasn’t a perfectly buttoned up story. The characters all had existing purpose and personality. This is probably a function of the ongoing ARG but still worked nicely for those of us coming in cold. There are many unanswered questions and story threads to play with here in the future.

I think the structure of the show worked and the meet & greet with the disciples had enough time to breathe that I felt I got a chance to explore each character’s backstory. You had to put some work in to get the story elements out of this portion and those willing to engage likely had a great time.

I personally wished the walkthrough “test” was a lot longer in length but this event was perfect for people who wanted a deep narrative. I also noticed some elements borrowed from other shows (the antidote from a stranger was done in Alone’s Acheland for example) though in the grand scheme of things these are blips in the 2 hour show.

I applaud the Order of Bileth for putting on a uniquely structured and entertaining show and look forward to future events.