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| Sunday, 12 January 2003 |
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Olympic - style launch planned for Cricket World Cup in South Africa by GERSHWIN WANNEBURG CAPE TOWN, Jan 11 (Reuters) - South Africa is thinking big for its first Cricket World Cup with an Olympic-style opening ceremony that organisers say will be the biggest show of its kind the continent has ever seen. "We want people to see just how special we are in South Africa," the ceremony's producer, Penny Jones, said animatedly, sitting in a makeshift chair in a warehouse rapidly filling up with zebras, buffalo and chickens. She said the Cricket World Cup launch would showcase South Africa's parks and Cape Town, one of the continent's top tourist draws, and would be a far cry from the problems of AIDS, poverty and violent crime which all too often grab the headlines abroad. The two-hour spectacle, which she said would be broadcast live to up to 1.5 billion viewers around the world, would have everything from traditional dancers to techno music. Jones, who had a hand in festivities at the last three Olympic Games, said Cricket World Cup chief Ali Bacher had been inspired by the opening show for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. "(Bacher) sat in a seat in Sydney at the opening ceremony and he really witnessed the power of stadium theatre," Jones told Reuters. "He persuaded his policy committee that this is the way to go. This is the way we can do a two-hour TV feed around the world celebrating South Africa, South Africans. It's got a basic tourism focus," she added. Authorities hope to see the "Mother City" follow in the footsteps of Sydney and Barcelona, where tourism boomed after the two cities hosted the Olympic Games. They also hope to help the country's bid to host Africa's first soccer World Cup in 2010, a race they are favourites to win. Success would complete a trio of world cups after the rugby union tournament in 1995. Some 4,000 volunteer performers have signed up for the cricket ceremony on February 8, a day before the opening match. Add to that around 12,000 costumes and props and you have the biggest show of its kind in Africa. "We're very excited about it. We just missed the 2006 Soccer World Cup (bid), so this is the first opportunity in South Africa...to host a ceremony of Olympic-style scale," Jones said. She hopes to avoid a repeat of the 1995 Cricket World Cup in India, when technical problems halted the opening show halfway through. Dream team To realise her dream, Jones enlisted other stadium theatre experts, including designer Keith Anderson who has 50 years in showbusiness under his belt creating outfits for everything from circus acts to flamboyant shows at South Africa's lavish Sun City casino resort. American choreographer Doug Jack is into his 25th stadium production and recently won an Emmy award for his work on the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics opening ceremony. The Cape Town show will be a mixture of South Africa's 11 language and culture groups and spectacular nature reserves. "The directors have taken a long time to pick which jewels in the crown we want to show off. It goes everywhere from driving techno music to beautiful orchestral music, to beautiful scenes of ocean life - and the land as well and the human spirit too," he said. Jones said the show was based on a drive through South Africa, starting with a safari depicting Africa's "Big Five" - elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo and leopard. The spectacle moves on with a burst of traditional African dance, directed by South African playwright Mbongeni Ngema, and classical ballet paying tribute to South Africa's fragile marine life. In case anybody forgets the excuse for the extravaganza, the grand finale will see the cricket teams marching on to the field with Cape Town's world-famous minstrels. Shoestring budget Yet television producer Mark West has to balance a 27-million-rand ($3-million) budget - a fraction of the cost of Olympic shows which have swallowed nearer 10 times that figure. "As stadium theatre goes internationally, we've got an incredibly small budget. It certainly is nothing like they have overseas. We are delivering a show which is world-class with the amount of money we've got," West said. "A lot of people have come forward, major corporations have come forward, said 'yes, we'll help you' with small things...like rope and plastic. It all helps at the end of the day. People come to us and see the value of what it's going to do for the country, obviously," he said. The team have also prided themselves on giving jobs and training to poor communities around Cape Town. About 100 people from these communities have been hired to make some of the costumes and props and 4,000 out of a total 5,000 volunteers will be performing. Volunteer Mdurize Mkhize, a 31-year old former construction worker who has designed and produced more than 100 costumes said he did not mind working for free. "I've been learning a lot of things," he said. "Already a lot of people want me to make me some stuff. They've seen some of the stuff that I've done. Already in the township, people are talking." |
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