From surgery to Stratford

06 July 2012

With only three weeks to go before the Olympics we caught up with Mr Simon Clarke (Consultant Paediatric Surgeon) who will be performing in the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on 27 July.

With only three weeks to go before the Olympics we caught up with Mr Simon Clarke (Consultant Paediatric Surgeon) who will be performing in the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on 27 July.


Mr Simon Clarke (Consultant Paediatric Surgeon)

How are you involved in the Olympic Games?

I'm part of the cast who will perform in the Opening Ceremony, but I am in no way special... there are literally thousands of us, so thank God you won't recognise me!

Film director Danny Boyle (who directed Trainspotting, The Beach and Slumdog Millionaire) is directing the ceremony, which involves over 120 hours of rehearsals at night and at weekends.

Why did you choose to sign up?

I applied for event tickets on the first round last year and missed out, so I thought if I can't watch I may as well try and be in it! I ended up to going to two sets of auditions (including some rather vigorous, impossible dancing!) and unsurprisingly was put into the non-dancing (mime and movement) group.

Have you done anything like this before?

I've been in some local amateur dramatic productions at the Putney Arts Theatre. However the normal audience at Putney is 150 people, whereas the estimated audience for the Opening Ceremony is one billion people... gulp.

What are you most looking forward to?

Revealing all on 27 July... (though not literally)!