Earlier this year, The Count’s Den opened its doors to Los Angeles. The Den is part exclusive club, part hangout spot, and part immersive space. Each week, the vampires that call the Count’s Den their home descend and the mortal members are free to watch their drama play out (or play some board games, even the undead like board games). One of those vampire regulars is Elizabeth and Remember Me: Elizabeth is her origin story.

Before we get too far, I should mention that I haven’t had the chance to visit The Count’s Den and haven’t checked out the associated Slack, which has some light ARG elements. Outside of some social posts and chit-chat with people who have attended, I wasn’t familiar with the characters or goings on in their vampire world. An email before the show did help orient me to who was who with some background on the major players. For the most part, going in relatively cold didn’t impact the experience.

Albert, ten-year-old son of Jacob. Also me.

To learn about Elizabeth’s past, some vampire magic is used to send the audience back in time. Instead of merely watching the events play out, each person inhabits the life of someone present at Elizabeth’s turn. Someone will take on the role of Elizabeth’s best friend, her fiancé’s sister, or a 10-year-old boy. If you pull the 10-year-old’s card, be prepared to have everyone tell you how much you’ve grown since they last saw you and then offer you wine, whiskey, and champagne. The 1880s were weird, man.

But the 1880s are when Elizabeth’s (Stepy Kamei) becoming takes place, 1885 to be exact, and more precisely during her engagement party to William (Alexander Echols). The scene is filled with Elizabeth and William’s friends and family, including your new personas, backed by mood-setting live music (Jennifer Chun on the cello), and classic party games to round out the setting.

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The immersive elements are where Remember Me: Elizabeth comes alive. There’s some fun, some intrigue, and some lightly veiled danger for audiences to discover. And the light LARP overlay creates a nice dynamic between both actor and guest (plus guest and guest). Some attendees may feel more at home in their characters, but for those less comfortable, the performers will lead you through the dance. This type of thing usually isn’t my cup of tea because I tend to freeze up when trying to play a part, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it thanks to the cast capably guiding the interactions.

While the immersive side of the show is a high point, the story falls a bit flat. And that story is supposed to be Elizabeth’s, but there’s a good chance you’ll learn more about the men in her life. If the intent was to show how the buttoned-up Elizabeth’s life was controlled by men, so in death she became “overtly sexual and sly,” that beat doesn’t land with enough force.

The vampires’ presence at the party feels sort of out of place too, well even more than vampires at a party would, and I couldn’t tell you why they were interested in turning Elizabeth at all. Even spending time with certain characters, there’s a moment in the climax that comes out of nowhere as someone vaults from a pretty standard scumbag to unforgiveable with no build up. Some of this may be track dependent, and it looks like one path spends more time with Elizabeth, but the other isn’t given the opportunity to truly understand her.

Despite the disjointed nature of the piece as a whole, the immersive half of the show helps elevate it over the story half. And I’d hazard a guess that those stronger parts are more reflective of the regular happenings at The Count’s Den: and there’s certainly enough here to entice people into visiting. Combined with some lovely grace notes, including live music used to haunting effect over Elizabeth’s inevitable end, it should all should tempt people to step into the past again with future Remember Me installments.

Remember Me: Elizabeth runs through August 23rd at an undisclosed location in Thousand Oaks, CA. Tickets are $85. The Count’s Den lounge in DTLA features an escape room, regular gatherings, and special events. Check their website for more info.

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