The Lions Part invites you to their 30th Twelfth Night celebration beginning on the Bankside near Shakespeare’s Globe and continuing in procession to the historic site of Soap Yard in Borough Yards, SE1.
A collective celebration of the New Year, Twelfth Night mixes ancient midwinter customs and contemporary seasonal festivity. Twelfth Night is fabulous and free family fun – and very Insta-friendly.
The extraordinary Holly Man, the winter guise of the Green Man (from our pub signs, pagan myths and folklore), is decked in fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage and piped over the bridge with the devil Beelzebub.
On Bankside by Shakespeare’s Globe, led by the Bankside Mummers and our London Beadle, the Holly Man will ‘bring in the green’ and toast or ‘wassail’ the people, the River Thames and the Globe. (Wassailing is an old tradition to encourage good health).
The Mummers will then process to the Bankside jetty and perform the traditional ‘freestyle’ folk combat play, featuring the Turkey Sniper, Clever Legs, the Old ‘Oss and many others, dressed in spectacular costumes. The play is full of wild verse and boisterous action, a time-honoured custom of the season, recorded since the Crusades.
Twelfth Night cakes will be distributed at the end of the play to choose the King Bean and Queen Pea, followed by a procession through the streets to Soap Yard for dancing, music and stories.
Venue: London’s Bankside, outside Shakespeare’s Globe gates. 21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT
Organisers may cancel events, alter schedules, or change admission requirements without notice. Always check official sites before heading to an event.
