A pre-history of live action role playing games

Later gladiator battles were often fought with dull weapons as reenactments of historical battles, in appropriate costume. But it wasn't just a drama; the outcome wasn't predetermined. It also points out that commedia dell'arte uses sterotypical characters in stereotypical situations to make it easier to improvise; the connection to how fantasy RPGs are usually played is pretty clear. It also mentions the educational role-playing games that Mrs. Haggart used to use.

http://www.liveforum.dk/kp07book/lifelike_morton.pdf