Edward Hall cuts Old Vic’s Twelfth Night cake

This year the traditional party was held on the second floor outside the Lilian Baylis circle in honour of the famous theatre manager who turned the annual occasion into a major fund-raising event by inviting her guests to guess the weight of the cake.

The custom of cutting a cake on Twelfth Night has been maintained ever since Lilian Baylis' death in 1937 by the Vic-Wells Association which alternates the ceremony between the Old Vic and Sadlers Wells.

The Old Vic party was also the occasion for the launch of Lilian Baylis: A Biography by Professor Elizabeth Schafer who gave a short talk. Two of her students at Royal Holloway, Sam Shellie and Tiffany King, gave readings from Lilian Baylis's letters and speeches.

• Edward Hall directs all-male company Propeller in Twelfth Night at the Old Vic until Saturday 17 February.

• During the weekend the Pont de la Tour shop on Butler's Wharf had a display of its home baked French Twelfth Night cakes complete with gold cardboard crowns.