What happens
when we meet?
Intro
What if you became part of the story? What Happens When We Meet? is not simply a performance, but a world in which you play and make the decisions yourself.IMAGINE that for one day, you could be someone else.
Not on a screen, not in a story you watch, but in a world you actually experience.
This is LARP: Live Action Role Play.
LARP is not theatre, not a game, not improvisation; it is a unique combination of all three. You literally step into a story, take on a role, and together with others determine how it unfolds.
There is no audience. You are the story.
Whether you are an idealist who wants to test your beliefs, a curious mind eager to see the world through someone else’s eyes, or simply looking to break free from everyday reality, this scripted Nordic LARP gives you the opportunity to experience, feel and act as someone else.
Why is it so exciting to take part?
Because a scripted Nordic LARP is more than a game.
It combines immersive theatre, personal exploration and a powerful live experience. You discover what it is like to step into someone else’s shoes, make choices with real consequences, and encounter unexpected sides of yourself.
It is exciting, intense, liberating and sometimes deeply moving.
You may have heard of LARPs that immerse you in a historical world or a science-fiction universe. But there is also a form known as scripted Nordic LARP, which immerses you in experiences drawn much closer to real life.
And that is exactly what happens in What Happens When We Meet?:
you enter the world of a family simmering with tension, where life-changing moments and decisions can turn everything upside down.
What all LARPs have in common: You meet people in a different, deeper way.
You do not play to win, but to experience.
You discover something about the world and perhaps about yourself as well.
So put on your everyday clothes, let go of your expectations, and step into a world in which you are the protagonist.
LARP is not an escape. It is an invitation.
An invitation to feel, explore and reinvent yourself.
Synopsis
Eight cousins come together for a family reunion.
What begins as a familiar gathering, with old patterns immediately resurfacing,
develops into an increasingly tense confrontation:
how different can you become, even when you come from the same family?
Over the course of three reunions, taking place at different moments in their lives,
you experience how each family member changes, clashes, hardens or begins to open up.
Their choices, conflicts and desires put their relationships under increasing pressure.
And here is what makes it different:
you help determine how the story unfolds.
What Happens When We Meet? is not a performance you simply watch,
but an experience you step into.
Instead of sitting in the audience, you take on the role of one of the characters.
You experience their memories, embody their emotions, and receive live coaching from
actress, director and Via Berlin artistic director Dagmar Slagmolen,
and game and LARP designer Bruno Setola.
It is a unique opportunity for anyone who loves theatre, has always wanted the chance to perform with Via Berlin, or is curious about the world of LARP (Live Action Role Play), where theatre and play merge into an immersive, lifelike experience.
Step into What Happens When We Meet? Eight lives. Three encounters.
One family. And an ending that only you can shape.
Co-created as part of the European Horizon project MEN4DEM,
Via Berlin developed this new form of scripted Nordic LARP.
The experience brings together art, science and society to explore themes including femininity, masculinity, radicalisation and democracy. International premiere in Kraków, Poland, in June 2026.
The Dutch premiere at the International Oerol Theater Festival 2026.
Followed by runs in Italy, Poland, Th Netherlands, Greece, Germany and Sweden, where it will be presented in collaboration with MEN4DEM’s expert partner organisations.
Participant in Athens, Greece:
"Playing this LARP and becoming another kind of man - another kind of person -
is an ongoing process. Infinite, actually. You have to stay aware all the time.
What this LARP made painfully clear is that the old version of me didn't disappear. It's still there. Very close ... Right under the surface ... This character wasn't foreign to me at all. It was familiar. Uncomfortably familiar."
Participants reactions at the Oerol festival in The Netherlands
“What an incredibly well-crafted experience! So thoughtfully and authentically developed.”“Such an incredibly enjoyable experience!”
“It was so special to experience the world from the inside through the eyes of someone who seems so different from me. I learned so much!”
"The character became much closer to me than I expected."
"I began by judging. I ended by understanding."
"For the first time, I truly felt seen."
"People are much more complicated than they first appear."
"We started as strangers. Two hours later, we felt like family."
Research
Research outcomes expected spring 2027.
What happens when we meet? is one of the artistic interventions created within the European Horizon project Masculinities for the Future of European Democracy (MEN4DEM), of which Via Berlin is a partner.MEN4DEM is a Horizon Europe-funded research project that builds bridges between society, art and science in order to explore new ways of making masculinities more inclusive and, in doing so, strengthening the future of European democracy. Through the international MEN4DEM project, we bring together gender-equality organisations, performance artists and a consortium of academic partners from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Greece and Italy. Through intensive collaboration, we create and exchange different forms of knowledge. Together, we develop and test approaches to transforming anti-democratic forms of masculinity into more inclusive ones.
Policy Brief Men4Dem
DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE: NEW TOOLS TO COUNTER GENDERED RADICALISATION
We conducted a systematic, evidence-based review of intervention effectiveness and synthesized these scientific findings with best practices from MenEngage Europe.
Credits
Concept & Script Dagmar Slagmolen & Bruno Setola
Digital Creator Jeroen Janssen
Co-created with:
Emancipator (Netherlands)
and other expert organizations from Sweden, Germany, Italy, Poland and Greece affiliated with MenEngage
In collaboration with researchers from the Netherlands (University of Amsterdam),
Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece and Poland
brought together through the Europe Horizon project MEN4DEM