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27 Jul 2012

What can we expect from the opening ceremony?

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With 15,000 volunteers, 70 sheep and a homage to the NHS, tonight’s opening ceremony promises to be as eccentric as it will be epic. Channel 4 News looks at the men behind the madness.

The announcement that film director Danny Boyle would be directing the Olympic opening ceremony was generally met favourably by the British public. But as the man responsible for sending a junkie down the “worst toilet in Scotland” in Trainspotting, and then tackling the slums of Delhi for Slumdog Millionaire, he wasn’t the most predictable choice.

His partner in crime, Stephen Daldry, is also something of a wild card. His most recent film, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, was a brave choice, touching on the events of 9/11 and its aftermath. But the Oscar-nominated director first made his name for the film Billy Elliot, a story of working-class transformation which follows a young boy’s journey from the terraced streets of the north in the 1980s, to a successful ballet dancer.

But for a nation of cynics, whose approach to the Olympics has been as much about weary stoicism as jubilation, it seems the London 2012 organisers picked the perfect duo.

All that we know so far is that the ceremony will involve real farm animals on meadows and an image of a pastoral England with maypoles-a-plenty, but also a troupe of dancers representing the NHS and a closing song by Paul McCartney. Some representation of Glastonbury will be in evidence, as well as cricket – that quintessential English sport.

The three-hour show will take the audience on a journey through Britain’s history to the present day, but capturing the essence of the nation’s identity: this vision of the Olympic ceremony is less about portraying the perfect ideal, and more about creating an impression of Britain as experienced by its people – from the coal mines of industrial Britain, to the glamour and sophistication of James Bond.

Boyle’s interpretation has undoubtedly come about through his own experience of growing up in Britain. The son of a labourer and a dinner lady, growing up in Radcliffe, Lancashire, he carved his route into film-making via a spell as drama producer for the BBC and deputy director of the Royal Court theatre.

15,000 volunteers sworn to secrecy

Hours before the start of the ceremony, Boyle dedicated the show to the volunteers taking part. “What you think about really is you think about the volunteers. The thing about directors is that they just sit at the back in the end,” he said. “So any kind of nervousness I feel is for them really, because my nerves are not important. And the excitement I feel about it is obviously the excitement I think they feel.”

It is testimony to his popularity among the 15,000 performers in Friday night’s extravaganza, that the secrets of the ceremony have largely been kept. One performer told Channel 4 News that despite his lofty status as director of ceremonies, he has spent rehearsals on the ground with the rest of them, giving words of encouragement and exuding enthusiasm.

On one sunny day when volunteers suddenly had bottles of sunscreen and water confiscated at the door, and at another rehearsal when helicopters overhead drowned out the music-making, Boyle was the one apologising for the inconvenience, acknowledging the hassle, and thanking the volunteers for their time and perseverance.

The whole ceremony is said to have cost an estimated £27m and will be watched by some 62,000 people in the Olympic Stdium audience in east London, as well as potentitally billions more worldwide.

Boyle and Daldry will not be the only ones hoping that all goes according to plan.

But then again, if the odd sheep doesn’t stick to its instructions, or the bouncing on NHS beds goes awry, it won’t be the end of the world. In fact it might even fit perfectly with this ceremony’s ironic, quirky take on what it means to be British in 2012.

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