National Theatre: Indhu Rubasingham to be first female artistic director

Indhu Rubasingham has directed a number of plays at the National Theatre over the past 25 years

The National Theatre is to get its first female artistic director in its 60-year history, with Indhu Rubasingham taking over the landmark London venue.

Rubasingham will move to the National from north-west London's Kiln theatre - formerly the Tricycle - which she has run for more than a decade.

She will replace the National's current director Rufus Norris in 2025.

Rubasingham said it would be "a joy to be a part of this iconic building's next chapter".

Born in Sheffield and with Sri-Lankan heritage, she will be the seventh director since the National was founded by Sir Laurence Olivier in 1963.

To date, its artistic bosses have all been "posh white men", as the Guardian's chief theatre critic Arifa Akbar recently put it - saying Rubasingham was "widely considered to be the industry favourite" to succeed Norris.

Rubasingham has worked with author Zadie Smith on White Teeth and The Wife of Willesden

Rubasingham's productions at the Kiln have included Zadie Smith's The Wife of Willesden, which saw the best-selling author update Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale.

Rubasingham also directed the Olivier Award-winning Red Velvet and Handbagged, both of which transferred to the West End and the US.

And she has staged a number of plays at the National over the past 25 years, most recently Kerry Jackson and The Father and the Assassin, both last year.

"It's a huge honour to be appointed Director of the National Theatre - for me, this is the best job in the world," Rubasingham said.

"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.

"Theatre has a transformative power - the ability to bring people together through shared experience and storytelling, and nowhere more so than the National."

'Proven record'

Norris said: "Indhu is an exceptional artist who I respect and admire hugely, and I am so pleased that she will become the next director when I step down in 2025.

"She has run Kiln Theatre expertly for over a decade and I know this experience will be invaluable as she moves to the NT - a place she knows well, having directed successfully in each of the three theatres."

National Theatre chair Sir Damon Buffini said she had "a proven record of strong leadership and artistic success, alongside a commitment to bringing theatre to diverse audiences and broadening access to creative education".