I’m extremely happy to say that I’m producing Pedro Rodríguez Marin’s “The Bards Tale” in the UK.
It’s a larp about how Shakespearean characters live their own lives, and how they get along – or not – outside of the plays we know them from.
What advice would Lady Macbeth give Hamlet? What would Titania think of Henry V?
It’ll happen on the 21st to 22nd of August 2026, in Norwich. It’s a not-for-profit event – people who participate are pooling the expenses of running it. This’ll be the sixth full run, with an abridged version played as a chamber larp at The Smoke 2025.
The story and setting
The larp is a “What if?”. The essential concept is described by Pedro here.
What if Shakespeare’s characters from several of their plays actually become not just self aware, but different from their original personalities, and no longer constrained by the boundaries of their text?
The start point is a Role in a play, their end point is very much down to the player.
It’s the kind of story you could tell in a world like Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart or Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair. Our setting is “The Bard’s House”, a physical representation of the world where the characters have been living since they were first conceived by their author
In this run, this place is not a house.
It’s the Maddermarket theatre.
The experience
You will be playing a Thespian, who in turn plays a Role of one of the plays. Your Thespian is your character, their Role might be Hamlet. They play Hamlet, and have developed an independent life of their own.
We currently handle some of the characters from these plays:
- As you like it
- Hamlet
- Henry IV
- Henry V
- The Scottish Play
- Merry Wives of Windsor
- Midsummer night’s Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Romeo and Juliet
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- Twelfth Night
- Winter’s Tale
That said, should you wish to player a Thespian with a Role from another play – there’s space to suggest that on the booking form.
For some UK larpers, this will be a larp where nothing happens. There is no NPC presence. There are no NPC encounters. Players are simply experiencing a character outside of their text, roleplaying with others doing the same. Every character is from a play by Shakespeare, so you can know how they start. During the run, you’ll be prompted with suggestions as to what to do next, based on what they’ve said and done. All these are optional – where the characters end up is down to the players.
This will be the seventh (I think?) run with some of these characters. The prompts been tested and tweaked each time. They are suggestions. Every time the larp runs, Pedro adds more, and every time he reminds players they can also “Cagar en la trama”, which loosely translates as “take your story in the direction you wish”.
If you wish to read more, to see if this larp is for you, Pedro helps you answer that question with a page about the metaphysics here.
The practicals
When is it?
The event runs from the 21st to 22nd August 2026. It starts with workshops, at midday on the Friday, with the larp starting “early evening”. We have to leave the venue at midnight, and the event starts again at 11am on Saturday morning. The larp itself will end at 11pm on the Saturday, with (optional) debriefing after and time to relax.
We’ll find somewhere to meet for brunch the day after. If you’ll be in Norwich the day before, we’ll meet up the Thursday night somewhere too.
Where is it?
The Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich
How do I get there?
You’ll either be local, or….
- drive for what’ll seem like forever, find a carpark space somehow, probably wherever you’re sleeping and walk to the venue.
The closest car park is St Andrews Multi-Storey Car Park, which has 52 blue badge spaces. There is also blue badge parking opposite Jarrold’s on London Street. There are pull-ins making drop-offs possible both at the bottom of St John’s Alley at Charing Cross, or at the top on Pottergate. - get a train to Norwich station which is a 20 minute walk away
- fly to Norwich airport, which has a flight a day in from Schiphol, and get a 20 minute cab journey.
What catering is provided?
All tickets include in-game eating on Friday and Saturday, and lunch on Saturday.
We won’t be doing a glorious banquet, although do also expect a magnificent cheeseboard.
Friday night’s food will be a buffet centring Spanish food, and expect plenty of options. Saturday’s lunch will be bread and soup, with an ambition to provide choices for both for all players. Saturday night’s food is likely to be “fish and chips” from an excellent local chippy augmented as necessary to respect allergies and intolerances. There isn’t a kitchen on site, so cooking from fresh is out.
Once we’ve matched players to characters, we’ll ask for food preferences and communicate the menu.
The front of house area will be staffed during waking hours, and should you need anything, please do call in and ask. Tea, filter coffee and snacks will be available, and we’ll have both cow and oat milk. The staff will be in-character and at your service.
Breakfast is not included.
Where do I sleep?
Offsite. A theatre is a pretty much perfect site for a larp based on Shakespeare, but what it doesn’t have is bedrooms. At time of writing, a room for two at a Premier Inn a five minute walk from the theatre can be had for £185 in June 2026 – rooms for August are not available as yet.
How’s it for accessibility?
The event does not involve heavy physical activity, or much in the way of walking, and all of the roleplaying can be done seated. There are plenty of opportunities to rest. The theatre’s green room is available as a place to relax in game, or there is an off-game space as an alternative. Snack food to suit all players’ combinations of allergies and intolerances will be available any time.
Players are expected to read from books, and although this aspect can be handed off to another if needed – it is a core part of the experience.
The site is a working theatre. The majority of the site has step-free access, including the green room backstage, and there is an accessible toilet.
Parts of the site are not physically accessible. There’s no lift access to the wardrobe, circle, dressing rooms or the stage wings. We do not intend to restrict access to step-free areas, so it is possible that some roleplay will happen there. There are three steps up to the stage, and we will be providing a ramp to the stage should anyone ask for easier access.
If limited mobility is a concern, please contact us and we will provide more details of the spaces within the theatre and the barriers to moving between them.
What are the themes?
By signing up, you are agreeing to abide by this code of conduct, in line with our interpretation and implementation of it, and to roleplay in accordance with the event themes.
The sign-up
Places
There are 35 player places, all for thespians. You may signup at any time the form is open, which will be until the 21st August 2025.
Once we have a list of of folk who want to come, we’ll circulate it for folk to “red line” or “yellow line” other possible attendees. That includes the crew, and me as organiser – I’m on the hook for the site deposit, and I’ve never left a bad reputation behind me – and Pedro as larp designer. At this event, a “red line” means you wouldn’t attend an event with that possible attendee for whatever reason, a “yellow line” means you could, but you’d not want to roleplay closely with them. If anyone has a red line for anyone on that list, we’ll contact the red-liner and discuss options. If anyone has a yellow line, we’ll arrange characters that aren’t plotted closely together – but is not a large larp, and it’ll be difficult to avoid someone entirely.
Then we’ll look at the kind of character you want, and the plays that appeal, and will fit players to the pre-written (and play tested) characters – with the intent that if you don’t get a place, it’s because we didn’t have the right character for you.
We’re pretty sure that folk of more than one gender have played all of Shakespeare’s characters – your gender as player shouldn’t restrict the character you ask to play.
Should we get more interest than there are places, we’ll start by matching 12 players to their best match of character, if there’s any which suit. Then we’ll pick 12 players at random, and match them to their best match of character, if there’s any which suit. Then we’ll match any remaining characters to whoever fits them best out of whoever remains. We’ll treat folk on subsidised and full contributions precisely the same. When we run out of subsidised places, we’ll remove everyone who has asked for a subsidised place from the list.
Prices
The event is being run to recover costs, and not for profit. There are two cost contributions:
- £260 per person for full contribution
- £65 per person for subsidised contribution
There will be no questions as to why you want to contribute a subsidised amount; you just need to say so. We have budget for four subsidised places.
Your ticket includes your character, specific props and a physical edition book from your character’s play, and food as above.
Payment
Payment will be by PayPal – friends and family, please, as we need the full amount – or bank transfer. Up to you.
For a full contribution – £260 paid 21st of November 2025, or in instalments with £150 paid by the 21st of November 2024 and £110 by the 21st of May 2026.
For a subsidised contribution – £65 paid 21st of November 2025, or in instalments with £40 paid by the 21st of November 2026 and £25 by the 21st of May 2026.
Contributing full, subsidised, or by instalments, will make no difference to the character we match you with, nor will we share the contribution you’re making outside of the organiser team.
Please tell me where to sign-up, I’ve read enough…
Some more things that might help decide if you want to come…
Is this larp for me?
This larp may well be for you if you like:
- Performing, by which we mean reading a short piece to a small handful of other players
- Playing to lift, as there’s an assumption that we’re making a story together
- Roleplaying within the event themes.
- Shakespeare, as although no detailed knowledge is needed, it will help if you’ve seen a film in which your Role appears.
- Small scenes with one or two others, perhaps with a strong emotional tone
- Taking responsibility for your own story, although the organiser’s prompts will help
This larp is less likely to be for you if you dislike any of those things, or if you like:
- PvP play, although there will be conflict between characters
This larp is not for you if you can’t abide by this code of conduct, in line with our interpretation and implementation of it.
What’s the costume style of the larp?
Shakespeare’s plays have been produced in every setting imaginable, with every style of costume conceivable. That means you can dress how you wish. Or, to put it another way: read this from the designer’s website.
…living in The Bard’s House implies that your character can wear whatever they choose to wear, either based on the traits of their in-play (Role) and off-play (Thespian) personalities. Furthermore, you can choose any other clothing that fits your taste, from crazy Cyberpunk to period-accurate clothing. It’s your character.
In addition, the theatre has a wardrobe department, so if your thespian wants a costume change – that’s a possibility.
Will there be drinking at the larp?
No. Once it ends, there’ll be time to relax, but there’s no drinking alcohol during the event.
What about COVID?
Please take an LFT, before you start your journey to the event if you have any symptoms that could be COVID, and do not come if you test positive. I will have a short list of people who can attend at no notice so the game will – I hope – not be affected.
Feel free to wear a mask during the event, although we are not currently insisting on masks for anyone.
This policy may – of course – have to change if the circumstances of the pandemic change things before the event.
What if I cancel?
If you cancel at any time after accepting your place, we will do our best to get you a full or partial refund. We may be able to re-sell your place to somebody on the waiting list, or we may have budget left over. These refunds may be paid after the event, and we do not guarantee any refund whatever the circumstances.
What if the organisers cancel?
In the event of a cancellation by us, all players will get back a share of any of the unspent budget, proportional to their contribution.
What if the event makes any money?
We’re running the event to break even, and any surplus after refunds will go to Feed The People, a local grass-roots organisation that feeds those who need it. The budget and spend will be open after the event. If you’d like to see how that’s worked out before, there’s an example here – from the run of Katrine Wind’s “Daemon” I produced in 2024
What about insurance?
We’ll be covered by LRP Alliance’s insurance. The policy is liability insurance only – it providers insurance if the organises are liable for a claim when running an event. If you as an attendee wish accident or travel insurance then you will need to arrange that separately.
Is there any age limit?
Yes, the game is 18+
Not specifically because anything 18+ is anticipated, and a couple of characters could be young, but romance is an – opt-in – theme, and some characters depend on it. There is a “fade-to-black”‘ mechanic to cover any sort of actual sexual activity.
LARP experience 