An Evening With Clarence

In 1903 the first LARP ever - "An Evening With Clarence, an Entertainment for Six to Twelve Gay Couples" - premiered at the Cleveland Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Now, in 2003, an intrepid group of historical reenacters assembles to celebrate and recreate this auspicious anniversary.

Long Description

If you've heard of Clarence at all, of course, you haven't heard of this game. You've heard of the popular 1928 Mikhail Jung production, which continued to be produced well into the 1950s. Unfortunately, everything you remember is probably wrong, since Jung fundamentally rewrote the entire game, making it playable in the meantime.

In many ways, "Clarence" is a testament to the stoicism, and determination of early LARPers, who faced with a game that was more or less an imbecilic mishmash of mismatched parts, nevertheless forged ahead and made a LARP out of it.

It is also a testament to the fact that, before the days of Radio, people had a good bit of time on their hands.