Who is Indhu Rubasingham, the South Asian-origin first woman director of UK’s National Theatre?
Indhu Rubasingham will become the first woman director of the UK’s National Theatre.
Indhu Rubasingham, who is of South Asian origin, will become the first woman director and joint chief executive of the UK’s National Theatre. Rubasingham, who has been artistic director of the Kiln theatre since 2012, will take over from Rufus Norris in spring 2025 when his second term ends. She and Kate Varah will also become joint chief executives in a co-leadership model.
Born in Sheffield to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka in 1970, Rubasingham was educated at Nottingham Girls' High School, after which she studied drama at Hull Universitywhere she received an honorary doctorate in 2017.
She has been artistic director of London’s Kiln Theatre since 2012. Collaborations during her tenureincludewith Zadie Smith on “White Teeth” and “The Wife of Willesden” and with Ayad Aktar on “The Invisible Hand,” which was twice nominated for Olivier. Other directing credits include “Red Velvet,” “Handbagged,” “When The Crows Visit” and “A Wolf In Snakeskin Shoes.” She also programmed the Florian Zeller trilogy – “The Father,” “The Mother” and “The Son”; and Ryan Calais Cameron’s “Retrograde.”
Rubasingham said it was “a huge honour” to be appointed to “the best job in the world”.
She added: “The National has played an important part in my life – from tentative steps as a teenage theatregoer, to later as a theatre-maker, and to have the opportunity to play a role in its history is an incredible privilege and responsibility.
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“Theatre has a transformative power – the ability to bring people together through shared experience and storytelling, and nowhere more so than the National.
“I’ve been fortunate to have directed on the National Theatre’s stages and to have witnessed first-hand the commitment, collaboration, brilliance and pride of those who bring the magic to the building, both on stage and off."
Awards
- Best Director, The Father and the Assassin, Eastern Eye Arts, Culture & Theatre Awards (2023)
- Kiln Theatre ‘Best London Theatre’ The Stage Awards (2021)
- Best Director, White Teeth, ACTA – Eastern Eye's Arts Culture & Theatre Awards (2019)
- Tonic Awards (2017)
- Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, Handbagged (2014)
- The Arts & Culture Award, Asian Women of Achievement Awards (2012)
- Liberty Human Rights Award (2010)
- The Carlton Multi-Cultural Achievement Award for Performing Arts (2001)
(With inputs from agencies)
