Being & Doing - ACE144.6

Aerial view of coastline, fields, sand bars, shallow water, cliffs. VO "In Britain there still exist communal rituals, which resist intrusion, for intrusion produces self-consciousness, and self-consciousness destroys the very sense of the ritual." VO explains that, in 1346, French sailors were frightened away by an army of women from Padstow with a hobby horse in the lead. Aerial view of countryside and of Padstow. Men’s voices singing the "’Obby ’Oss May Song". Photographs of same procession from early twentieth century. Photographs of hobby horse costumes and rituals from other parts of Europe. Commentary describes the Padstow hobby horse and the Haxey Hood as drama in one of its earliest forms, where the division between action and audience has not yet been institutionalised, and suggests that some contemporary performance seeks to do the same, particularly where they are in opposition to an established regime. Aerial view of Padstow and the nearby sea. Black and white film of man hanging up clothes; woman’s VO "Du denke durch Aktion". Credits over.