Direktlänk till inlägg 28 juni 2015
I will write this recollection of the 2015 of the larp Just a Little Lovin' (JALL from here on) so that all my non Swedish friends can read this.
JALL was a larp set over three 4th of July parties and the morning after in the lgbtq world of New York in 1982-1984. A big part of the larp was focused on feelings and the pressing part of the “gay cancer” (Hiv-Aids) being a big death-threat to the characters.
The larp was set into three acts, each with its own theme, each act being one party. The first act had the theme “Desire” and was the party of 1982. The second act had the theme “Fear of Death” and was set in 1983. The third and final act had the theme “friendship” and was set in 1984.
Before the game started and between the acts we had workshops as well as debriefings (between the acts), to make everyone feel more secure. We got updated information on what was known about Hiv-Aids in the upcoming year.
There were very interesting techniques. First of all we were all split into different social groups of about 5-10 people (I can remember the numbers wrong) where we were close and had interaction between us. We also had smaller groups, or rather, closer groups. Those were called core groups. In the core groups you had your true friends, family, or lover, or something similar. These groups could change between acts at the will of the player for their characters.
I played a character called Lester, a straight married man at the age of 31. Lester was a survivor of stomach cancer. This was a worry I had before the larp. I lost my mother in skin cancer in 2006, so I was worried about whether or not it would be too much emotions from that or not. At the start of the larp he was married to Gwen and they had a daughter called Isabella who was 6 years old. Gwen and Lester were swingers and liked S&M (as it was called back in the 1980’s). The problem was that both of them were submissive. It was really hard to find a person who wanted to dominate two persons, but they found a young and upcoming male artist (Lester had no problem with being dominated or whipped by a man) called Mickey. The starting core-group that Lester was in was with Gwen and Mickey. The social-group Lester was in was called the lifestylers (or lifers for short), which was the people with alternative life style of swinging.
The reason why the characters were at the party was different for the three big groups. First there was the Mr. T’s party, where all characters were gay men. Then it was his assistant Pens’ party guests who were a group of lesbian women. And finally it was a group of mixed people with both straight and bi people. It was The Saratoga friends. The Saratoga friends was a group of Cancer survivors and their close friends and family. They had all survived cancer and was together at Saratoga (the place where the party was set) to rehabilitate after they got well from their cancer. The Saratogas were having a reunion at the 4th of July every year for ten years since they were there as youths. In 1981 the two parties accidentally collided and interacted with each other. So from 1982 Mr T invited the Saratogas to the party.
During the day when the larp was about to start we had workshops of different meta techniques. One of them was the phallus technique for having in game sex where everyone involved would feel secure. You have this pink phallus that was quite big which you use as a substitute for the genitalia. Both men and women used it. It was to get the feeling that it was more visual than other meta techniques for example Ars Amandi (google if you don’t know what it is). You used the phallus against one of the involved person’s bodies and rubbed it. It could be between the legs or just against the leg or between the involved persons. This really worked as a good technique for the larp.
Another meta technique was the three feathers. There were pink, blue and black feathers. You could hand a feather to another player during the larp as an out-of-character question to the other player if they wanted to do something with you. What, was depending on the colour of the feather. You hand the feather to the other player and if they take it you have agreed to talk outside the game to set up the scene. The pink feather was a question to the other player if they wanted to play a sex-scene with you. A blue feather was asking for a black box scene where the receiving player would be its (your?) own character, and a black feather would be a black box scene where the receiving player would be a different character than their own character. When the feather had been accepted the involved players went for a walk and talked over what they wanted to do and how. Both the feeling of the scene and somewhat of the outcome.
The use of black boxes is something I love. You go in to a room which is out of game, it is often like a small theatre stage, where you play out a scene you can’t play in the larp. For example a scene from a character’s childhood, or a “What if…” scene.
Then everyone dressed up in their 1980’s outfits and we met up out of character, which was necessary. If we hadn’t done that everyone would be laughing so hard. Everyone looked really great, like collected from an 1980’s movie. After a while of chatting we presented some of the important characters everyone new about. Than we had to go to our starting position where we “froze” in position. Think of it as you would have paused a mingle scene in a movie. Then they started playing the song “Just a Litte Lovin - Dusty Springfields” which was cue for the larp to start when the song finished. I just love that idea, it works so incredibly well. It was the first time I heard the song and fell in love with it immediately.
That’s it for part 1. I will split them up in one part for each act and maybe one part for the aftermath of the larp.
/I truly deeply love you all.
Just a little lovin'
Early in the morning
Beats a cup of coffee
For starting off the day
Just a little lovin'
When the world is yawning
Makes you wake up feeling
Good things are coming your way
This old world
Wouldn't be half as bad
It wouldn't be half as sad
If each and everybody in it had
Just a little lovin'
Early in the morning
That little extra something
To kinda see them through
Nothing turns the day on
Really gets it dawning
Like a little bit of lovin'
From some loving someone like you
This old world
Wouldn't be half as bad
It wouldn't be half as sad
If each and everybody in it had
Just a little lovin'
Early in the morning
Just a little lovin'
When the world is yawning
Just a little bit of lovin' ah
Oh, in the morning
Nothing turns the day on
Really gets it dawning
Make a little bit of lovin'
It's so good, it's so good
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