Katabasis

Katabasis (UK), by Susan Ploetz, Una Hamilton Helle and Francis Brady, is larp about cave descents, origin myths and group archetypes. It utilises non-verbal (with limited verbal) communication, physicality and symbol-making to create culture, narrative and play. 

Generations ago, our people fled into a vast system of caves to create a new world. The Myth says that we started as one large group, but, after the Great Divide, we were separated. 

There are stories that the others are still out there, but we haven’t encountered them. As we descend further into the vast network of caverns, we feel the presence and traces of the mythical others as they appear to us as symbols, detritus and echoes in the dark. 

We envision Katabasis as a flexible structure for those who want to think about the formation of societies and culture, as well as communication and the negotiation of differences.

It is a larp that explores these themes through myth and symbol creation; and ritualised movement and sound.