Behind the scenes of Parrabbola’s documentary theatre performance

A T-shirt from the ceremonies of the Olympics

Parrabbola’s project for Newham Heritage Month 2022 is all about being part of the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

We did a call out for anyone who was involved: performer, backstage, wardrobe, anyone at all.

We had a great response and carried interviews in person and via Zoom.

Nicky Adamson interviewing Sovra Newman.

The interviews were very interesting. Everyone had a different reason for volunteering to take part in the event, and took different things away from the experience – some even became serial volunteers.

Robert Gill was a ‘Working Man’ in the Olympic Opening Ceremony and Sovra Newman was a dancing marshal in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympics.

Robert Gill played a ‘Working Man’ in the Olympic opening ceremony

The stories that came out of the interviews were then collated and used as a basis of the documentary theatre performance which featured in Newham Heritage Month.