Covent Garden Street Fair: Part One
1/2 inch open-reel videotape Black & White Sound 03/09/1978 31:07
Summary: Raw black-and-white handheld footage of the Covent Garden Street Fair in August 1978, filmed by Basement Project.
Title number: 21152
LSA ID: LSA/27848
Description: The camera captures the celebrations along the streets. First, we see a game of tug-of-war with a long rope between two teams of young people. People of all ages mill around the streets. The camera pans around between a musical performance with a banjo to people dressed in fancy-dress with face paint. Multiple street games are recorded: a four-legged race with three people tied together at the ankles attempting to manoeuvre around chalk-lined paths; a ‘slow bicycling’ race that involves people trying not to pedal, to move as slowly as possible down the path.
Clowns and mimes are seen multiple times delivering performances, between clips of massage stands and jugglers. They deliver a performance at the end of the video to a large crowd of people on a grassy field. One man takes down half of his leotard, delivers a physical comedy skit, and ends the performance by lying down on a box of sharp pins. The video ends in the middle of the performance.
Credits: Basement Project (Producer)
Locations: Covent Garden
Related
Comments