Stage Directors Tackle The Olympics
Published on Sunday 20th June, 2.32pm, Written by Kelly Pentland
Stage and screen directors Danny Boyle and Stephen Daldry are to play a key role in the 2012 London Olympics.
Danny Boyle is directing the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony
Boyle, well-known for directing hit movies including Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire, as well as multiple productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, has been handed the extraordinary challenge of directing the opening ceremony of the Games.
Meanwhile Daldry, who has worked on a host of stage productions, including Billy Elliot, Machinal and An Inspector Calls, and directed the movie version of Billy Elliot, will oversee the Olympic and Paralympic Games’ opening and closing ceremonies. He will work alongside Mark Fisher who was the designer at the Beijing 2008 Games, TV director Hamish Hamilton and producer Catherine Ugwu.
Every four years the Olympics unites the world and brings with it a wealth of expectation. All eyes turn to the hosting country as spectators await a wonderfully creative and innovative opening ceremony, designed to start the Games with a bang. Anything short of sensational is a disappointment and leaves a black mark against the host’s name. It’s of huge importance as a statement of intent to the world, but Great Britain’s appearance in the closing ceremony in Beijing hasn’t filled me with hope.
As China brought this global event to a close, Britain was allowed eight minutes to give the world a taste of what it can expect in 2012; and the best we could manage was Leona Lewis on a bus while Boris Johnson waved a flag.
It was our chance to show the planet why London 2012 is going to be special, and we had a load of cliched rubbish with dancing kids, a Routemaster and David Beckham kicking a ball into the crowd. Put simply, it was trite, embarrassing nonsense, and has filled me with fear that the 2012 opening ceremony will be based around ‘inner city’ children in homemade t-shirts doing a bit of breakdancing.
Or at least, that’s what I was worried about before this latest bit of news. Now, I’m thankful that we have such a fantastic gang working on London’s ceremonies. I have every faith that Danny Boyle, Stephen Daldry and their team will pull something special out of their hats; certainly something more special than an X Factor winner and sixth form drama class-level choreography.
