THAP Big Show - 2nd Night Drama
1/2 inch open-reel videotape Black & White Sound 1976 25:15
Summary: Black and white footage of the second night of drama at the THAP Big Show at Whitechapel Art Gallery. Featuring a group of young girls performing a series of musical scenes about working class women striking, various individuals monologuing and musical hall style performances.
Title number: 21528
LSA ID: LSA/28231
Description: The video is mostly inaudible and occasionally very blurry with frequent lines of static. The camera pans and zooms as the person behind the camera is learning how to use it, evidenced in the first few minutes where another person is heard teaching them how to use the equipment. We see children painting banners, audiences gathering for the evening's performance. Various styles of theatre are shown and explored, such as a performance of the music hall song, “Wot Cher! Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road”
The Tower Hamlets Arts Project (THAP) was formed in 1976 out of protest to the Thames Television ‘Eyesights’ scheme which commissioned professional artists to create posters for display in the borough, rather than investing in local arts projects. A crowded public meeting in February 1975 called for an alternative, bolder plan, bringing together existing and fledgling arts activities under a coordinating body to be called the Tower Hamlets Arts Project (THAP). The purpose was to create opportunities for everyone to participate in community art. THAP celebrated their achievements with a month-long ‘Big Show’ at the Whitechapel Art Gallery.
Credits: Basement Project (Producer)
Locations: Whitechapel
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