While hundreds of punters shell out good money for a seat at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House each night, any number of free shows are taking place on the cobbles outside.
In 1975 — a year after Covent Garden's famous fruit, veg and flower market wheeled out its last barrows of violets and carrots — professionals from a very different background, namely showbiz, began rolling into the piazza.
While Samuel Pepys famously watched a Punch and Judy show in Covent Garden in 1662, 300 years later, a trickle of acrobats, jugglers, mimes and musicians — some worthy of their own cameo in My Fair Lady — sparked a new era for Covent Garden, as a centre for Londoners and tourists alike to be entertained al fresco and, if they liked what they saw, throw some coins in a hat.
Says the CGSPA "One of the defining qualities of Covent Garden's street theatre is its accessibility. There are no tickets, no gates, and no dress codes. Anyone – of any income level, local or tourist, young or old – can stop and watch. A banker on lunch break watching a man lay upon a bed of nails, is just as welcome as a family stumbling across a chainsaw juggler."
You might argue this piazza has done as much to promote creativity and the arts as any of theatreland's surrounding venues; among those who've trodden the cobbles here over the years are Eddie Izzard, Dynamo and Stomp. Another is the performance poet John Hegley, who originally honed his craft in Covent Garden during the 1980s, and will now appear as part of a day-long celebration of half a century of modern street performance here, on 11 May 2025.
Hegley will be joined by a panoply of performers, including an 11-piece brass band who'll kick things off with a parade through Covent Garden; hand-balancing acrobat Juma; sword swallower Mighty Gareth (who used to wow crowds here in the 1990s); not one but two 'Charlie Chaplins'; unicycle and juggling act Hunter Juggler; ventriloquism from Steph and her puppet Gordo; and a mass sing-along led by the West End Musical Choir. Think of it as a 'Best Of' Covent Garden show.
Amid all the celebrations and organised mayhem, there is a serious underlying message, namely the conservation of the street performing trade in Covent Garden. In light of the recent crackdown on street performing in nearby Leicester Square, the Covent Garden Street Performers Association (CGSPA) wants to cement the future livelihoods of its area's own performers.
When, in 2021, Westminster Council introduced a borough-wide licensing scheme for street performers, including Covent Garden, the CGSPA "politely refused" to participate, deciding instead it would rather continue self-regulating, as it has done since those first performers turned up in 1975.
Says CGSPA performer and spokesperson Peter Kolofsky, "We are grateful that for the most part Westminster Council has stepped back from enforcing restrictions and has currently agreed not to take action in order to physically enforce the licence in Covent Garden. But we desperately need to see that goodwill put into writing, so that performers aren't constantly looking over their shoulders." In short, Covent Garden's performers want to be set free from what they describe as 'licensing limbo'.
Says CGSPA "It is one of the few places in central London where high-quality performance is available to all, regardless of income. The audience gives what it can, when the hat is passed, and in return receives world-class entertainment in the heart of the city. It is public art in its purest form."
CGSPA spokesperson Melvyn Altwarg will appear throughout the day with anecdotes from the past 50 years, as well as informing crowds about the issues performers face.
Fittingly, Covent Garden's May Fayre & Puppet Festival — which mark Pepys' diary entry about the puppet show, and was first hosted in 1976 — takes place on the same day.
Day-long street performances, Covent Garden, Sunday 11 May 2025, free
