Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera.

Biography

Born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, 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 where, in 1972, he was the vice-captain. In that year, Armfield directed the school's production of A. A. Milne's ''

Toad of Toad Hall ''Toad of Toad Hall'' is a play written by A. A. Milne – the first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel ''The Wind in the Willows'' – with incidental music by Harold Fraser-Simson. It was originally produced by William ...

'' which garnered him the award of "Best Director" at the NSW High Schools Drama Festival. When asked in 2019: "Who or what was your biggest influence?" Armfield said; "Lindsay Daines at Homebush State High School, who encouraged my theatrical aspirations." He then went on to study at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, graduating in 1977, and became co-artistic director of the Nimrod Theatre Company in 1979. He joined

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

'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. Armfield was the subject of a severe gay-hate attack in May 1986 in Sydney's Moore Park which the NSW Police failed to investigate. 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 subsequently directed under his successor as artistic director Ralph Myers. Armfield was appointed joint artistic director of the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

with Rachel Healy in 2017, with their original two-year term extended twice to 2023. This made them the longest serving artistic directors in the Festival's history.

Company B work

For Company B, which became the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, he has directed * ''Signal Driver'' * ''State of Shock'' * ''Aftershocks'' * ''Master Builder'' * '' The Diary of a Madman'' * '' Diving for Pearls'' * ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' * ''Ghosts'' * ''Hate'' * '' No Sugar'' * ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' * '' The Blind Giant Is Dancing'' * '' The Alchemist'' * ''WASP'' * ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

'' * ''The Governor's Family'' * ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...

'' * '' The Judas Kiss'' * ''The Small Poppies'' * '' Suddenly Last Summer'' * ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' * ''Emma's Nose'' * ''Aliwa'' * ''My Zinc Bed'' * ''

Waiting for Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...

'' * '' The Underpants'' * ''The Lieutenant of Inishmore'' * '' Gulpilil'' * ''The Spook'' * ''The Fever'' * ''

Cloudstreet ''Cloudstreet'' is a novel by Australian writer Tim Winton published in 1991. It chronicles the lives of two working-class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who come to live together in a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Au ...

'' * '' Picasso at the Lapin Agile'' * ''Dead Heart'' * ''

A Cheery Soul ''A Cheery Soul'' is a 1963 play by Australian writer Patrick White set in the fictional Sydney suburb of Sarsaparilla at the end of the 1950s. White described it as being about "the destructive power of good." Productions ''A Cheery Soul'' ...

'' * ''

Night on Bald Mountain ''Night on Bald Mountain'' (), also known as ''Night on the Bare Mountain'', is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian s:St. John's Eve (Gogol, unsourced), literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed ...

'' * '' Stuff Happens'' * '' The Adventures of Snugglepot &
Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom'' * ''

Keating! ''Keating!'' is a sung-through musical which portrays the political career of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. Keating was Prime Minister between 1991 and 1996; the musical follows him from his ascent to the leadership through ...

'' * '' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll''

Opera Australia work

For

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...

he has directed works such as ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the Play (theatre), play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was ...

'', '' The Eighth Wonder'', ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...

'' and ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'', also known as ''Billy Budd, Foretopman'', is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed vers ...

''. In 2013, he directed Opera Australia's first full-length presentation of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's '' Ring Cycle'', in Melbourne.

Companies worked with

* Nimrod Theatre Company * State Theatre Company of South Australia * Queensland Theatre Company *

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...

* Seymour Group *

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...

* Welsh National Opera *

Canadian Opera Company The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performin ...

* Zurich Opera *

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

* The Royal Opera, Covent Garden *

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox (Chicago opera), Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, w ...

* Houston Grand Opera * Pinchgut Opera

Film

*1986: ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' *1991: '' The Castanet Club'' *2006: ''

Candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

'' *2015: '' Holding the Man''

Awards and honours

Australian

*Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

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)"Officer of the Order of Australia Award"
on itsanhonour.gov.au Retrieved 18 September 2013 *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 The Green Room Awards are Australian peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, theatre companies, independent theatre, musical theatre, contemporary and experimental performance, and opera. The awards, which were established in ...

* AFI Award for Best Director (Mini-series '' Edens Lost'') *Several

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...

*Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts in Australia

International

*Dublin Festival, Best Production (''

'') *

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...

, Canada, Best Director and Best Musical for ''

'' *Barclays Best Opera Production Award (''Billy Budd'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armfield, Neil 1955 births Living people Australian film directors Australian theatre directors Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Helpmann Award winners Officers of the Order of Australia Australian opera directors Australian LGBTQ film directors LGBTQ people from New South Wales LGBTQ theatre directors 20th-century Australian LGBTQ people 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people