In what has become a London tradition, the Lions Part theatre company are once again mixing ancient customs with contemporary celebrations for their big Thameside Twelfth Night celebration. Beginning on the Bankside near Shakespeare’s Globe, the company lead a procession to celebrate the ancient Midwinter festival with pagan icons, the Green Man and the Holly Man making an appearance, to ‘bring in the green’ and ‘wassail’.
The procession will pass by the Bankside Jetty for a performance of the Folk Combat Play of St George – a seasonal event recorded from the Crusades, which features wild verse and action, and characters such as the Turkey Sniper, Clever Legs and the Old 'Oss. Two of the cakes distributed at the end of the play have a bean and a pea hidden inside – those who find them are crowned King and Queen for the day, and lead the people to Soap Yards where storytelling and revelling await.