nordiclarpyearbook2015

Waiting for uncertainty:
Can waiting around be a larp?
- By Simon James Pettitt
Most of us have tried this: Picking up someone
at the airport. Waiting with strangers,
looking at them, noting how differently
people prepare to greet their loved ones.
Maybe you have even tried to wait for someone
whose plane was delayed. Again, people
react differently; annoyed, angry or sensibly
changing the plans they had. That is the
start of Waiting for Flight GO901.
Waiting for Flight GO901 is a black box
larp, which means that theatre techniques
like light and sound play a part in the game,
the game starts with a workshop, and it’s
experimental. Here the light and sound
elements are small, only a monitor during
the start and a meta scene using a spotlight
at the end, but the experiments and workshop
are paramount for the game. From
the familiar beginning the game moves into
what - luckily - is fiction for most people.
The plane is more and more delayed until
it disappears from the monitors. Annoyance
turns to confusion and maybe even the first
tingles of worry. At this point a member of
staff (played by one of the larp organizers)
steps into the play area and asks to get the
attention from everyone waiting for passengers
onboard Flight GO901.
All the players flock to the person, reactions
so different; anxiety, anger, fear. Questions
pour out. The poor attendant informs them
that the plane is having technical difficulties
and might be delayed for quite a bit, but
if everyone could follow him, they have a
meeting room where they can wait and get
information as quickly as possible.
The players are moved from a big open
space to a small room, where all these
strangers suddenly have to be much closer
to each other, just as their emotions are rising.
“The rest of the memories are a bit of a
blur. The flight being further delayed, time
ticking away slowly. I can’t really tell when
I began to suspect that something was
wrong. Maybe it was when they removed
the information about the flight from the
info board. Or maybe when they moved us
to another room.”
- Elina Andersson, participant
From here on the member of staff can only
bring bad news. After some more anxious
waiting, he informs them that they have
lost contact with the plane. Next time he
shows up, he can sadly confirm that there
has indeed been an accident and that rescue
personnel is on the way to the crash site.
There’s reports of few survivors.
“People reacted in different ways. Some
cried and others were angry. Some did not
want to believe what we had just been told
and some tried to offer comfort. At one
point a pocket flask was sent round in the
room, a ritual of sorts.”
- Elina Andersson, participant
Finally, he turns up one more time; the casualty
lists are in. At this point, the game
switches to a metaphysical state. The lights
dim, the players are moved to a dimly lit
area and a spotlight turns on opposite them,
creating a small, bright patch of light in the
room. The staff member, now a kind of
messenger of death, places different bags
in the light, one by one. These are the bags
the players used to create the one they are
waiting for.
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