Running from the razor gangs
An interactive game on the mean streets of 1920s Darlinghurst.
Matilda “Tilly” Devine’s mugshots, 1927
Roaming the streets of Darlinghurst on a desperate search for after-hours booze sounds like something we all might have done at some stage. This time around, however, you’ll be getting some help from infamous characters from the 1920s via a video GPS device.
Razorhurst is a live, interactive game that immerses players in the seedy underworld of the Sydney of almost a century ago. It takes about an hour to play, is free, and you come away with some real insights into a notorious time in the city’s history.
You pick up your GPS device at the East Village Hotel in Palmer St, a place that itself was a den of iniquity called the Tradesman’s Arms. Its patrons were the local prostitutes and pimps, SP bookies, drug dealers, and assorted pickpockets, muggers and con men. In the heart of the red-light district, it was also across the road from the headquarters of Tilly Devine, madam-in-chief of the largest network of brothels the city has ever seen.
Your mission is to collect sly grog, supplies of liquor for the illegal after-hours bars when all of Sydney’s pubs shut at six o’clock. The GPS device will track your movements, offer clues, video and sound information, maps and archival photos.
Group of criminals, Central Police Station, 1921
It’s not just a tour, however. There’s always the threat of gangsters – the notorious razor gangs – catching up with you and, instead of ending the game at the pub you could find yourself paying a visit to the hospital.
Razorhurst runs Sunday-Thursday nights from 5 to 13 September. You can start the game anytime between 5.30 and 8.30pm at the East Village Hotel, 243 Palmer St, Darlinghurst. It’s free, and you can book online here.
Razorhurst was designed and developed by Richard Fox, and is project of dLux/MediaArts. The September season is being presented as part of NSW History Week 2009.
Image details, from top:
Matilda Devine, criminal record number 659LB, 27 May 1925. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW. NSW Dept. of Prisons/Justice & Police Museum.
Mug shot inscribed “Group of Criminals Central 1921″, c.1921. Central Police Station, Sydney. NSW Police Department/Justice & Police Museum.
Paul Hayes 2009.