Belvoir (theatre company)

Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia.

Belvoir was formed in 1984 and, originally under the artistic leadership of Neil Armfield, the company engages Australia's most prominent and promising playwrights, directors and actors. Belvoir also tours to major arts centres and festivals both nationally and internationally.

Belvoir sprang into being out of the unique action taken to save the Nimrod Theatre building from demolition in 1984. Rather than lose a performance space in inner city Sydney, more than 600 arts, entertainment and media professionals as well as ardent theatre lovers, formed a syndicate to buy the building. The syndicate included nearly every successful person in Australian show business.

Belvoir St Theatre’s greatly loved Upstairs and Downstairs stages have been the artistic watering holes of many of Australia’s great performing artists such as Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Jacqueline McKenzie, Ursula Yovich, Richard Roxburgh, Max Cullen, Bille Brown, David Wenham, Tyler Coppin, Deborah Mailman and Catherine McClements.

Sell-out productions like Cloudstreet, The Judas Kiss, The Alchemist, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, Gulpilil, Stuff Happens, Keating!, Parramatta Girls, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Michael Gow's Toy Symphony, have consolidated Company B's position as one of Australia's most innovative and acclaimed theatre companies.

Belvoir receives government support for its activities from the federal government through the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and the state government through Arts NSW.

Ralph Myers became Artistic Director of Belvoir in 2011. [1]

2010 Season

• That Face - written by Polly Stenham, directed by Lee Lewis
• Love Me Tender - written by Tom Holloway, directed by Matt Lutton
• The Power of Yes - written by David Hare, directed by Sam Strong
• Measure for Measure - written by William Shakespeare, directed by Benedict Andrews
• Gwen in Purgatory - written by Tommy Murphy, directed by Neil Armfield
• Namatjira - written by Scott Rankin, directed by Soctt Rankin and Wayne Blair
• The Diary of a Madman - written by Nikolai Gogol (adapted by David Holman with Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush, directed by Neil Armfield)

2011 Season

• The Wild Duck - written and directed by Simon Stone, After Henrik Ibsen
• Jack Charles v the Crown - written by Jack Charles and John Romeril, directed by Rachael Maza Long
• Cut - written by Duncan Graham, directed by Sarah John
• The Busines - based on Vassa Zheleznova by Maxim Gorky, adapated by Jonathan Gavin with Cristabel Sved, directed by Cristabel Sved
• The Kiss - written by Anton Chekhov, Kate Chopin, Peter Goldsworthy and Guy de Mauppasant, directed by Susanna Dowling
• The Seagull - written by Anton Chekhov, directed by Benedict Andrews
• Neighbourhood Watch - written by Lally Katz, directed by Simon Stone
• Windmill Baby - written by David Milroy, directed by Kylie Farmer
• Human Interest Story - choreographed by Lucy Guerin
• And They Called Him Mr Glamour - written by Gareth Davies, directed by Thomas Wright
• Summer of the Seventeenth Doll - by Ray Lawler, directed by Neil Armfield
• The Dark Room - written by Angela Betzien, directed by Leticia Cáceres
• As You Like It - written by William Shakespeare, directed by Eamon Flack

Belvoir Education Program

School matinee performances: Belvoir holds up to five school matinee performances of every subscription season show.

Tours: School groups are able to take a behind the scenes tour of Belvoir St Theatre where they learn about the history of the building and Belvoir, and the running of a professional theatre company.

Priority Funded Schools Program: Through the support of Education Partner, Freehills, Belvoir offers students from priority funded schools the opportunity to attend school matinee performances for free.

Workshops: Belvoir runs a number of education workshops throughout the year for both students and teachers. The workshop program includes workshops in lighting, set, costume and sound design as well as in composition, theatre criticism and performance.

Work Experience: Belvoir runs a work experience program for high school students the aim of which is to give students a first hand experience of the company's artistic and administrative operations.

Work Placement at Belvoir: Belvoir also offers a limited number of work placements to students studying the VET Entertainment Industry Course.

External links

• Belvoir website
• The theatre company where nobody gets top billing. Louise Schwartzkoff, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February 2009.