According to director Danny Boyle, the opening ceremony of the London Olympics will be held under the motto "Green and pleasant land." For the record, such a ceremony will cost British taxpayers £27 million or more than $40 million.
According to Boyle, the ceremony at the Olympic Stadium will restore the British people's self-image as a nation. During the ceremony, scenes will be enacted depicting families from the English countryside having picnics, residents playing cricket on a village green, and farmers at their daily work, against the backdrop of rivers, fields and meadows. Real animals will be brought onto the stadium field – 12 horses, 30 sheep, 2 goats, 3 cows, 10 ducks, 10 chickens and other farm animals. According to the authors' boldest expectations, a whole billion television viewers around the globe will watch the opening ceremony. The artistic director of the ceremony, Boyle, known as the director of the films "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire", claims that the great Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" was a true inspiration for him. The main theme of the opening ceremony will be the image of the Earth recovering from the filth of the industrial world.
The signal for the start of the Games' opening ceremony will be the ringing of a 23-ton bell installed at the stadium, the largest in Europe, which was cast at a foundry in the Whitechapel area of London. At the same foundry in 1856, the Big Ben bell was made, which today is installed in the clock tower of the British Parliament building.
"Be not afraid, this isle is full of noises" – this famous quote from "The Tempest" will adorn the bell. The final rehearsal of the ceremony at the Olympic Stadium will take place in the presence of 80,000 spectators.
Today, workers are finishing the construction of almost 3,000 sets, and experienced tailors are sewing 23,000 costumes that all participants of this show will wear. The ceremony will last three hours. It will begin with a 'culture hour' on July 27 at 21:00 British Summer Time, followed by a parade of participants. The opening ceremony will end with the lighting of the Olympic flame cauldron and a final fireworks display.
Based on materials from the website sportbox.ru.