[title]
Sheep, Maypole dancing, a troupe of NHS nurses? With Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle at the helm of a creative team that also includes filmmaker Stephen Daldry, the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was always likely to be both pop-culturally impressive and pleasingly off-the-wall but we admit to being surprised when details of the July 27 ceremony were announced. Along with picnicking families and a village cricket team, livestock – including ten chickens, ten ducks, nine geese, 30 sheep, three cows and two goats – looks set to play a role in Boyle's pastoral vision for the ceremony, which also features real grass, rivers, an oak tree, a model of Glastonbury Tor and giant maypoles topped with a thistle, a leek, a rose and flax. Huge 'clouds' will be suspended above the stadium, one of which will supply rain should the weather fail to deliver a bona fide British atmosphere. Against this backdrop of a giant, surreal, village fête, the action begins with the ringing of a 27-tonne bell (Europe's largest, cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which has been inscribed with a quote from Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' – 'Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises'). Exactly what will unfold during the three-hour ceremony, titled 'Isle of Wonder', is being kept under wraps but we know that things will get livelier – there will be two mosh pits, representing Glastonbury Festival and the Last Night of the Proms, allowing members of the public to get close to the musical action (details of ticket allocation for the mosh pits are to be announced). The 'hour of culture' will be followed by the traditional athletes parade and the raising of the Olympic flag, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron and a firework display. The Queen will be in attendance and Paul McCartney has confirmed that he will close the show. For more information about the Opening Ceremony see http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/2818/london-2012-olympics-opening-ceremony
For more details about the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games see www.timeout.com/olympics