Suttirat Larlarb, a professional costume designer from New York
“I’ve done many Hollywood films, but this was by far the most challenging, to stick within the tight budget, work with so few staff and produce such ambitious costumes for people who aren’t used to working in showbiz.
“The bit I’m most proud of is the dove bikes. We had to make incredibly delicate wings that could move very fluidly out of flexible plastic sheet lined with layers of white mesh fabric with fibre-optics laced into it.”
Akram Khan, choreographer and the principal dancer in the Abide With Me sequence
“We were the only performers during the entire ceremony to have the whole stage to ourselves and the simplicity of it, with Emile Sande’s soulful voice, was what I thought was beautiful about it.”
Elizabeth Roberts, one of two women who sang with Alex Trimble as the Olympic torch was passed to the seven young athletes who lit the cauldron
“I am used to singing a cappella, so this was very different and out of the comfort zone for me. We did not rehearse the song very much but we spent hours making sure everyone was in the right place at the right time. I wasn’t nervous because everything was so thoroughly planned. There was nothing that was left to chance.”
Jackie Serrano, nurse from University College Hospital Trust, London, who performed as a dancer
“I was positioned in the outer circle of nurses dancing around “trampoline beds” which each contained a bouncing gymnast in pyjamas. My role was to dance around the bed in a group of six and to move it into formation. We had done 28 rehearsals.”
Chris Scott, artist from Dalston, east London, who performed as a cricketer
“We were told not to hit the ball too far because of the children round the maypole but on the night, in the excitement, one of they guys belted it and it hit a deck chair. Luckily it missed the children.
“To keep the audience’s attention, we performed set movements when instructed by our group leader. A shout of “lost” and we would all look to the sky; “laces” and we would all bend down and tie their shoes; and “spin” and we would all twirl on the spot.”
Katherine Lynch, a nurse from Hackney, east London, who worked as a “mechanical” – volunteers placed in the audience to dance and cheer at the right moment
“Much of the ceremony was a surprise to us too. We knew Sir Paul McCartney and the Arctic Monkeys would be involved, because we saw them in rehearsals – but we didn’t know about Rowan Atkinson. We knew there would be the James Bond thing because we saw them practice the parachute – but we didn’t know the Queen would be making quite such an appearance.”
Dan Aversano, a jazz musician and composer from Twickenham, south west London, who was one of the nearly 1,000 drummers on stage
“Danny Boyle had originally planned to use real drums for the performance, but in the rehearsals he decided to keep with the small plastic buckets we had used during practices as it better suited the industrial revolution set.
“The poor drummers had to keep the beat going for the hour and a half during the nations’ flag-waving – it showed incredible stamina. I’ve never played with such a large group before, it’s given me a new sense of the importance of keeping on the rhythm.”
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