Just a Little Lovin'

Just a Little Lovin' is a game that was first run in Norway in the summer of 2011. It will be run again in Sweden on the 8th - 13th of June 2012.

Set in a partially fictional New York of 1982 through -84, the game is "a larp about friendship, desire and the fear of death"[1]. The game itself laster for three days, with act breaks every morning to build on relations and play.

The game was first organized and written by Tor Kjetil Edland and Hanne Grasmo, and the second run of the game takes on Miriam Lundqvist, Anna-Karin Linder and Petter Karlsson as organizers through the LajvVerkstaden association.

Summary

1982: It was the summer AIDS came to New York City. Two group of friends from New York City celebrate the 4th of July in upstate New York. The 1970s have been a decade of women's liberation, youth rebellion, anti-war protests and sexual promiscuity. This changed America forever, but the early 1980s is also a time of a resurging conservative movement which President Ronald Reagan is the sunny face of. Gay men are migrating to New York to become part of the vibrant and hedonistic scene in Greenwitch Village. Unbeknownst to everyone however the HIV virus has started spreading in the city. An article in the New York Times last summer described a mysterious "gay cancer", but it's cause remains still unknown.

During the larp we play three 4th of July partys of 1982, 1983 and 1984. Every morning after breakfast there is an act break where we find out what has happened with the characters and their relationships the following year before the next act starts one year later. When the game starts neither the players nor the characters know who will become infected by the virus, but the lives of all the characters will be deeply effected by the epidemic. Our goal for the game is that all the characters will have friendships that are important to them, experience a little bit of lovin' at the summer parties and feel the fear of death as people around them start to become infected.[2]

Techniques

• Pre-game workshop
• Black Box
• Monologue
• Cut & Break

Related

The game site featured artwork done specifically for the larp by Astrid Solgård, that was later used in an exhibition in a gallery.

There was also an exhibition at Oslo Central Station for the World AIDS Day featuring pictures, written pieces, pieces from the set, the paintings by Solgård as well as a few of the players doing performances.[3]

Before the game was played, there was a debate in the Swedish newspaper Expressen, regarding whether or not it is alright to "play" with AIDS. You can find the first entry of that debate here.

External links

• http://just-a-little-lovin.blogspot.com/
• Photos by Tore Olbert, Frida Sofie Jansen and Li Xin.