Indhu Rubasingham has been announced as the next director of the National Theatre; This marks the first time a woman and a person of color has taken on the biggest role in British theatre.
Rubasingham, who has been the artistic director of the Kiln theater since 2012, will take over from Rufus Norris in the spring of 2025, when his second term ends. He and Kate Varah will also become joint chief executives in a co-leadership model.
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During his tenure at North London’s Kiln, Rubasingham collaborated with Zadie Smith on the songs White Teeth and The Wife of Willesden, which transferred to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York earlier this year.
He directed Ayad Akhtar’s play The Invisible Hand, which was nominated for the Olivier Award twice.
Rubasingham is taking over the helm of an institution that cannot return to being, in Michael Billington’s words, “an all-white enclave on both sides of the spotlight.”
Before Norris, there were five other white men who held directorships at the National Theatre: Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn, Nicholas Hytner and founding director Laurence Olivier, appointed in 1962.
There were doubts about whether the theater would continue Norris’s project of opening the venue to new audiences and daring to be different, or whether he would opt for a safe haven at a time when theaters were struggling financially.
But Rubasingham, 53, the favorite to take over, was described by the Guardian’s chief theater critic Arifa Akbar as having “the flair, leadership and creativity for the job, and the confidence to take the NT to new places”.
Born in Sheffield and of Sri Lankan descent, Rubasingham studied drama at the University of Hull and later worked at the Gate Theatre, Birmingham Rep and the Young Vic. In 2017, he was awarded the MBE in the New Year’s honors list for his services to theatre.
Under his leadership at the Bakery, new writing became a mainstay of the theater’s mission. The first black woman to run a major theater in London, she oversaw a massive £9 million capital campaign and reopened the former Tricycle theater with a new building and name in 2018.
He has also previously worked at the National Theater in all three auditoriums on the South Bank, including The Waiting Room, The Ramayana, The Motherf**ker With the Hat, The Great Wave, Ugly Lies the Bone, Kerry Jackson and most recently The Waiting Room. He directed the productions. The critically acclaimed production of Anupama Chandrasekhar’s The Father and the Assassin returned to the Olivier theater earlier this year.
Rubasingham said it was a “huge honour” to be appointed to the “best job in the world”.
He added: “The National has played an important role in my life as a theater producer, from tentative steps as a young theatregoer, and to have the opportunity to play a part in its history is an incredible privilege and responsibility.
“Theater has a transformative power; the ability to bring people together through shared experience and storytelling, and nowhere more so than at the National.
“I have been fortunate to have directed on National Theater stages and to have witnessed first-hand the dedication, collaboration, genius and pride of those who bring magic to the building, both on and off stage.
“There is nothing like it anywhere else and it will be a pleasure to be part of the next chapter of this iconic building, leading the company alongside Kate.” [Varah].”
He said he was “thrilled” to follow in Norris’ footsteps and looked forward to working closely with him to plan his first season.
During Norris’s 10-year tenure, he laid out a bold vision that saw him win awards for helming Festen and David Rudkin’s productions of Afore Night Come as a young director.
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In 2017, it was criticized for its focus on new, forward-looking works while ignoring established classics. But this approach was proven correct when the work he chose—Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (1991) and Stephen Sondheim’s Follies (1971)—achieved commercial success with Tony awards and Broadway transfers.
Norris’ passion for new writers meant she could provide platforms for diverse talent, supporting female playwrights (Annie Baker, Lucy Kirkwood, Yaël Farber and Nina Raine) and people of color (Inua Ellams, Clint Dyer, Roy Williams). during his tenure as artistic director.
Norris said Rubasingham’s experience would be invaluable at the National Theatre.
“I know that, together with Kate and the wonderful, dedicated team here, the National will continue to thrive and remain at the heart of British cultural life,” he said.