Re-enactment and Larp
I've just got back from the last re-enactment event of the year, where I was discussing an idea I've been toying with re a bit of a larp/re-enactment crossover.
A repeated thought over the last few years has been that re-enactment and larp have a lot they could learn from each other. Added to this, I have this feeling that re-enactment needs to adapt from the current model. The market is changing, both in what participants, organisers and audiences want. The hobby needs to move with them.
Sadly, many re-enactors have strong reservations about larping, which makes it hard to bring in the new ideas from that direction. The starting point for my current thinking was to wonder if it was possible to make a show more fun for audiences by having elements stolen from the way larp games are run. The way some larpers aim to create stories is critical here- what they create during an event can be truly amazing and gives a wonderful insight into the characters they are playing. If that could be presented in a format where an audience could watch (safely), it could be very entertaining.
It could also be good for allowing the participants to better understand the characters they are playing. Even something as simple as how and when you wear armour is very different in the two hobbies. As a larper, you might wear your armour most of the time, as you might be in a fight at any moment. As a re-enactor, you put it on either because there is a scheduled battle coming or because you want to pose. You don't tend to think about 'I'd best carry a sword and wear this brigandine in case a mosh breaks out'. That totally chnages the way you view your equipment.
What is in my mind at the moment is an experiment in historical larp (I know such things have been done before and are regularly done on the continent, but I've never tried one). Take a specific and well documented scene from history as your setting, give all the participants clear briefs about their backgrounds and objectives. Then let them go.
The obvious one to come to my mind is the night before the battle of Bosworth. That is a clear instance where in the Yorkist camp you can identify a great number of people, supposedly on the same side, with divergent (and sometimes incompatible) goals. The list of characters that could be played is nearly endless, of a vast range of social ranks. The benefits from a re-enactment living history perspective are potentially huge (although it is possible they'd also end up presenting massive distortions).
Coming home, I saw this interesting post by Delvy about battles at larp games. It strikes me that one way that battles become more interesting is when each participant knows precisely what their character's involvement is. Going back to the Bosworth example, if on the Saturday of the event you spend your time in the camp of Richard III, playing someone in the force and trying to achieve your personal goals, you could then fight the battle on the sunday (if you had not deserted or been murdered etc) knowing exactly what your investment was.
Of course, a next step is how you make the resulting show one which an audience can watch and enjoy. Assuming that is the model you are still following.
There are definitely places where similar exercises are already being done (Kentwell Hall as one obvious example), but I am not aware of an example where it is done to include both battles and the public.