That play about larp is apparently doing an Auckland run at the end of the month:
basementtheatre.co.nz/whats-on/dragonlore/
(The cast came along to Chimera for “The Rose and the Dragon”, but AIUI, the scriptwriter had very different ideas about larping than we do)
So the cast came, but the scriptwriter had never actually attended a larp prior to penning the script? Curious to know what you mean.
…you’d think attending a LARP would be a prerequisite to writing a play that involves one.
Was it written overseas? It might be the playwrite was basing it on games encountered in different communities. Or movies like Role Models maybe.
If you were writing a comedy about cops, would you go out with some police to see what it really involves? Or just write based on “common knowledge” of what cops do and what you think would be funny? I bet most people would do the latter.
Bear in mind it’s not a documentary. Media sources warp everything, and comedy fiction most of all. Even most journalists these days are really infotainers, with the exception of a few highly dedicated and unusually even-handed journalists.
It’s a shame they bill it as showing what larp is really about, if there is a lack of research in the scriptwriting. But aside from that, it seems pretty harmless.
I reckon it’s nice that the director and actors went out of their way to actually experience larp, I think they went above and beyond the call of duty. It might bring some more sympathy to their portrayal, but who knows.
If we want accurate media portrayals of larp, we must create our own.
Interview with the writer, who seems sympathetic to larp and interested to try it:
stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/cu … ive-action
A fairly positive review:
theatreview.org.nz/reviews/r … hp?id=6134
Would be interested to hear from larpers who saw the Wellington run.
From what I heard, the play was quite good, although the version of LARPing they were involved in in the play bore almost no resemblance to anything we do here. It might be closer to American LARPing, in some ways, but I wouldn’t know the specifics.
What I’m curious about is what the actors thought of real LARPing at Chimera. Do we have some new recruits?
DISPUTE!!! 
Chimera is very specifically Theatreform (or prewritten) Larp. There are a lot of other ways to Larp and I don’t think we should there is the one true way.
It would definitely be interesting to see what the actors made of the Rose and the Dragon. But more interesting, Given that they are actors and never get to create their own characters anyway, would be to see what they made of a larp that wasn’t prewritten, where they made their own characters.
DISPUTE!!!
Chimera is very specifically Theatreform (or prewritten) Larp.[/quote]
I guess you missed all the outdoor live-combat games then, some of which appear to have DIY characters (as did “New Voices in Art”).
DISPUTE!!!
[/quote]
I think Russ was just saying the larping at Chimera was real, unlike the larping in the play.
I disagree. Given they know nothing about larp, if they went to a larp where you make your own characters they would:
As it was the actors playing village girls were really keen to have longswords. So keen we had to take the swords off them. 
I think it was probably the ideal introduction for actors, because it was similar enough to acting that they could focus on the real common defining feature of most larp: improvising characters within a pre-designed setting.
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]1) Come away with the idea that’s a defining feature of larp
2) Create characters that reinforce their stereotyped notions of what larp is about (e.g. playing heroic Mary Sue characters)[/quote]
Oh also:
DISPUTE!!!
[/quote]
I think Russ was just saying the larping at Chimera was real, unlike the larping in the play.
[/quote]
Yeah he probably was. lol.
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]
I think it was probably the ideal introduction for actors, because it was similar enough to acting that they could focus on the real common defining feature of most larp: improvising characters within a pre-designed setting.[/quote]
Yeah I’m not saying it was the wrong introduction at all, just I’d be interested to know what they think about other forms. i.e. I think they need to explore more Larps.
[quote=“IdiotSavant”]
I guess you missed all the outdoor live-combat games then, some of which appear to have DIY characters (as did “New Voices in Art”).[/quote]
I totally did miss all the live combat games, though Struck to the Quick could have done with some live combat. Next time I’m bringing my larp safe surfboard. But the general idea is that Chimera is primarily theatreform and those are the games that are asked for. Or at least that is the impression I got. Doesn’t matter that much though.
I didn’t play New Voices in Art, but that games sounds like an extended round of Theatresports, which is sort of like a short form improve Larp. Maybe stealing some theatresports ideas is a good way of making 15min Larps. But that is an aside.
[quote=“Jarratt”][quote=“IdiotSavant”]
I guess you missed all the outdoor live-combat games then, some of which appear to have DIY characters (as did “New Voices in Art”).[/quote]
I totally did miss all the live combat games, though Struck to the Quick could have done with some live combat. Next time I’m bringing my larp safe surfboard. But the general idea is that Chimera is primarily theatreform and those are the games that are asked for. Or at least that is the impression I got. Doesn’t matter that much though.[/quote]
Its a mixed con and has been since its inception. There’s a limit on campaigns, and a strong presumption that characters will be prewritten, but that doesn’t exclude games where you basicly have a quick template with a couple of options. The mix of spaces (and shortage of other outlets in Auckland) means a heavy theatreform presence, but that’s by no means what the con is meant to be all about.
(Hydra is meant to be the same, but the outdoor space is nowhere near as good, and Wellington writers swing heavily theatre-style)
Pretty much. The Nordic tradition is strongly influenced by improv theatre. But in this case at lest it led to a fun game.
Yeah, I meant ‘real LARPing’ in the sense of ‘not part of a play’. Coming into LARPing from a theatre background, and an improv background to a lesser degree, I was sort of surprised to find that LARP was less scripted than I had anticipated. I was sort of wondering how the actors might respond to theatre-form game if they’d only been exposed to a ‘LARP’ that’s been scripted from beginning to end.
For me, yes and no? I’ve put in off-hand jokes without worrying about it.
On t’other hand, when something is the focus of whatever it is I’m working on, I tend to get frustratingly involved with researching minutiae, end up with a mass of facts that won’t make it to the finished version, and write notes that-probably-won’t-get-read about tiny details, or why I put in a deliberate inaccuracy because it fit the story better. I suspect some of that is academic training, and partly me having the fidgets.
I am aware that there are other, valid ways to write things.
**
Did any of the actors make comments about what they thought of their experiences at the Con?
And, has anyone seen the play yet?
For me, yes and no? I’ve put in off-hand jokes without worrying about it.
On t’other hand, when something is the focus of whatever it is I’m working on, I tend to get frustratingly involved with researching minutiae, end up with a mass of facts that won’t make it to the finished version, and write notes that-probably-won’t-get-read about tiny details, or why I put in a deliberate inaccuracy because it fit the story better. I suspect some of that is academic training, and partly me having the fidgets.
I am aware that there are other, valid ways to write things.
**
Did any of the actors make comments about what they thought of their experiences at the Con?
And, has anyone seen the play yet?
There’s a very brief article that appeared in my local paper about one of the actresses in the play here.