OccupationCreative director Alma materUniversity of Sydney EducationUniversity of Sydney
Full NameNeil Geoffrey Armfield OrganizationNimrod 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 ParentsLen Armfield, Nita Armfield AwardsAACTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay NominationsAACTA Award for Best Direction, Golden Bear MoviesCandy, Holding the Man, Twelfth Night, The Castanet Club, Edens Lost Similar PeopleLuke Davies, Tommy Murphy, Timothy Conigrave, Craig Stott, Ryan Corr
The book of everything a director s note from neil armfield
Neil Geoffrey ArmfieldAO (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. His homosexuality has informed much of his work.
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.
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.
Company B work
For Company B, he has directed
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.
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)
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 Edens 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
