Felix Barrett, Artistic Director of Punchdrunk, Awarded MBE for Work in Theatre

Felix Barrett has today been awarded an MBE for his work in the theatre industry. Artistic pioneer Barrett founded Punchdrunk with colleague Pete Higgin in 2000. Since then the company has become renowned around the world for its ground-breaking approach to making theatre, winning numerous awards and thousands of loyal fans in the process and becoming a byword for all that is different from traditional theatre. The company's practice has influenced a generation of theatre makers with its style of productions and practice.

Felix Barrett said: "It is really an honour to be given an MBE and it comes as a complete surprise. For years Punchdrunk has worked right at the very edges of the theatre sector, so to be acknowledged by the establishment is truly humbling. There are an incredible amount of people who have been with me all along the way, creating vivid and adventurous worlds for audiences to explore, and this award is something I feel I absolutely share with them".

Felix Barrett
Artistic Director of Punchdrunk and a graduate and Honorary Fellow in Drama, University of Exeter, Felix has conceived, and directed all of Punchdrunk's productions since founding the company in 2000. He is a Critics' Circle Drama Award winner and one of the first recipients of a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Breakthrough Fund Award, which supports exceptional arts practitioners in the development of their vision. His work with Punchdrunk includes: The Firebird Ball; Faust; The Masque Of The Red Death; It Felt Like A Kiss (a collaboration between Punchdrunk, documentary film-maker Adam Curtis, and musician Damon Albarn for Manchester International Festival); Sleep No More (a collaboration with American Repertory Theatre); The Duchess Of Malfi (with English National Opera); The Crash Of The Elysium (for Manchester International Festival and the 2012 Cultural Olympiad); The Borough (a co-production with Aldeburgh Music). Felix also directed the company's award-winning New York debut production of Sleep No More, which recently celebrated its fifth birthday and has been playing to sell out audiences since 2011. Most recently, Felix directed Punchdrunk's largest production to date, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable. Other work includes co-direction of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (National Theatre).