Fire destroyed Belvoir theatre’s precious ‘library of things’. Now it is rising from the ashes

Staff scrambled to pull together a show after their sets, props and costumes were ruined in a huge fire. Ahead of its new production, the team reflects on what was lost – and gained When Neil Armfield heard that Belvoir, the Sydney theatre company he helmed for 17 years, had lost its storage warehouse in a fire, the first thing he thought of was his washing basket, which had recently been borrowed by artistic director Eamon Flack for a show. It’s strange where the mind goes in moments of shock, and he laughs now at the ridiculousness of this thought. Having made scores of shows at Belvoir during his tenure and in the 15 years since – including acclaimed productions like Cloudstreet – it felt like “my work had been erased,” he says. “It’s a bit like your house burning down.” This sense of history and nostalgia has brought an extra poignancy to his latest project: a remount of his acclaimed 2010 production The Book of Everything, created in collaboration with Kim Carpenter, his co-artistic director at Belvoir’s predecessor, Nimrod, in the early 80s, and a frequent collaborator through his pioneering visual storytelling company Theatre of Image. The show also stars