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Dates: | 6 January 2008 |
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Venue: | Bankside Riverside |
Celebrate the New Year in traditional and contemporary style with the Lions part theatre group on London's famous Bankside.
Twelfth Night is an annual seasonal celebration held in the Bankside area of London.
It's a celebration of the New Year, mixing ancient seasonal customs with contemporary festivity. It is free, accessible to all and happens whatever the weather.
To herald the celebration, the extraordinary Holly Man appears from the River Thames. He is brought by the Thames Cutter, Master Shipbroker. (The boat is subject to the weather.) The Holly Man is the winter guise of the Green Man, who you may know from English pub names, pagan myths and folklore. He is decked in fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage.
A group known as the Bankside Mummers will toast - or "Wassail" - the people, the River Thames and Shakespeare's Globe with the help of the London Town Crier. Wassailing is ancient tradition which encourages growth.
The Mummers then process to the Bankside Jetty, and perform the traditional "freestyle" Folk Combat Play of St. George. The play features 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 part of the season recorded since the Crusades.
Cakes are distributed around the crowd at the end of the play. One has a bean hidden in it, another a pea.
The two members of the crowd who find them are hailed as King and Queen for the day and crowned with ceremony.
They then lead the people through the streets to the historic George Inn in Southwark for a fine warming-up with Storytelling, the Kissing Wishing Tree, more Dancing and Mulled Wine.
Visit www.thelionspart.co.uk for more information.
Address: | Bankside Riverside
Outside Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe
London
SE1 |
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