Neil Armfield

Neil Armfield AO
Born	Neil Geoffrey Armfield Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Occupation	Creative director
Organization	Nimrod Theatre Company State Theatre Company (SA) Queensland Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company Seymour Group Melbourne Theatre Company Opera Australia Welsh National Opera Canadian Opera Company Zurich Opera English National Opera The Royal Opera, Covent Garden Lyric Opera of Chicago Houston Grand Opera

Neil Geoffrey Armfield AO (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. His homosexuality has informed much of his work.^[1]

Biography

Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory, and Nita Armfield. He was brought up in the suburb of Concord adjacent to Exile Bay. He was educated at the Homebush Boys High School and the University of Sydney, graduating in 1977, and became Co-Artistic Director of the Nimrod Theatre Company in 1979. He joined South Australia's Lighthouse Theatre before returning to Sydney in 1985, where he was involved in the purchase of Belvoir St Theatre and the formation of Company B, becoming its first Artistic Director in 1994.^[2][3]

In April 2008 he was selected as a participant in the Towards a creative Australia strand of the Australia 2020 Summit. Armfield announced in 2009 that the 2010 season would be his last as Belvoir Artistic Director, but he has subsequently directed under the new Artistic Director Ralph Myers.^[4]

Company B work

For Company B, he has directed

• Signal Driver
• State of Shock
• Aftershocks
• Master Builder
• The Diary of a Madman
• Diving for Pearls
• The Tempest
• Ghosts
• Hate
• No Sugar
• Hamlet
• The Blind Giant is Dancing
• The Alchemist
• WASP
• The Seagull
• The Governor's Family
• As You Like It
• The Judas Kiss
• The Small Poppies
• Suddenly, Last Summer
• The Marriage of Figaro
• Emma's Nose
• Aliwa
• My Zinc Bed
• Waiting for Godot
• The Underpants
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore
• Gulpilil
• The Spook
• The Fever
• Cloudstreet
• Picasso at the Lapin Agile
• Dead Heart
• A Cheery Soul
• Night on Bald Mountain
• Stuff Happens
• The Adventures of Snugglepot &
  Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom
• Keating!
• Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

Opera Australia work

For Opera Australia he has directed works such as Jenůfa, The Eighth Wonder, Tristan und Isolde and Billy Budd. In 2013 he directed Opera Australia's first full-length presentation of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, in Melbourne.

Companies worked with

• Nimrod Theatre Company
• State Theatre Company of South Australia
• Queensland Theatre Company
• Sydney Theatre Company
• Seymour Group
• Melbourne Theatre Company
• Opera Australia
• Welsh National Opera
• Canadian Opera Company
• Zurich Opera
• English National Opera
• The Royal Opera, Covent Garden
• Lyric Opera of Chicago
• Houston Grand Opera

Film

• 1986: Twelfth Night
• 1991: The Castanet Club
• 2006: Candy starring Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush
• 2015: Holding the Man

Awards and honours

Australian

• Officer of the Order of Australia for "... service to the arts, nationally and internationally, as a director of theatre, opera and film, and as a promoter of innovative Australian productions including Australian Indigenous drama." (January 2007)^[5]
• Honorary Doctor of Literature at the University of Sydney (April 2006)
• Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Director and Best Production
• 1989, Major Award for Significant Contribution to Sydney Theatre
• Several Green Room Awards
• AFI Award for Best Director (Mini-series Eden's Lost)
• Several Helpmann Awards
• Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts in Australia

International

• Dublin Festival, Best Production (Cloudstreet)
• Dora Mavor Moore Award, Canada, Best Director and Best Musical for Billy Budd
• Barclays Best Opera Production Award (Billy Budd)
• Jesse Kempf

References

Notes

1. Jana Wendt, "The Diary of a Maestro: Meeting Neil Armfield", The Monthly (Australia), September 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2013
2. Mitter, Shomit; Shevtsova, Maria (2005). Fifty Key Theatre Directors. Routledge. p. 236. ISBN 0-415-18731-1.
3. Atkinson, Ann; Knight, Linsay; McPhee. Margaret (1996). The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia Volume 2: Opera, Music, Dance. Australia: Allen & Unwin. p. 11. ISBN 1-86373-898-3.
4. Steve Dow, "Au revoir, Belvoir", 6 December 2009. Armfield's family background on stevedow.com.au
5. "Officer of the Order of Australia Award" on itsanhonour.gov.au Retrieved 18 September 2013

Sources

• Atkinson, Ann; Linsay Knight and Margaret McPhee (1996), The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia Volume 2: Opera, Music, Dance, Australia: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86373-898-3
• Mitter, Shomit; Maria Shevtsova (2005), Fifty Key Theatre Directors. Routledge ISBN 0-415-18731-1

External links

• Neil Armfield at the Internet Movie Database
• Talking Heads – Armfield interview by Peter Thompson for ABC1 (July 2010)