After years of preparation from athletes and organisers, the London 2012 Olympics are finally here!

Today we will see the opening ceremony of the Summer Games, which has been directed by celebrated British director Danny Boyle. By now crowds will be flocking to the East End of London to welcome in the Games with Boyle’s latest masterpiece, which has been kept under wraps for the last few months. One piece of information that has slipped out is that the ceremony draws inspiration from Caliban’s line in Shakespeare’s The Tempest: ‘Be not afeard; the isle is full of noise’, which is inscribed across a large bell (now the largest in Europe) which will start the celebrations.

The director is best known for his Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire (2009) but made his big break with the British film Trainspotting, which introduced the world to Ewan Mcgregor. So it’s fair to say that he has had experience with a variety of different budgets and never sticks to one genre. However, there is one thing all of his pieces have in common – as the June issue of Vogue put it ‘realism overlaid with optimism’.

When it came to the Olympic job, the director accepted ‘without any hesitation at all’. But is up for the challenge of a live action show?

Last year, he returned Frankenstein to the stage at The National Theatre in London, a show which quickly sold out and won critical acclaim. Nicholas Hytner, director of The National Theatre seems to think Boyle is up to the challenge, as he has ‘massive conceptual and visual panache and an old-fashioned showman’s flair for big gesture’. Just want an Olympic opening needs.

Danny Boyle’s family originally hails from Ireland and is another thread in the tapestry of The Wild Geese story. With an anticipated 1 billion viewers expected to tune in to see the opening, the opportunity to prove his talent once again is fast approaching.

But Danny Boyle has already started to gage the success the ceremony has achieved:

‘I believe it’s a success already because I believe the way that it’s mobilised people together’

We’re excited to see his latest spectacle!