When Rufus Norris announced that he would be standing down as the National Theatre’s Director and Chief Executive in 2025, while a number of names of likely candidates were tossed around, there was really only one choice to follow the line of Lord Olivier, Sir Peter Hall, Sir Trevor Nunn, Sir Richard Eyre, Sir Nicholas Hytner and Norris.
Media pundits suggested that the role really needed to go to a woman this time around, while diversity was always likely to come into the mix. However, given her experience and skill set, Indhu Rubasingham would have been head and shoulders above any of the competition, regardless of gender or ethnicity.
Unlike the incumbent and his predecessor, Sir Nicholas Hytner, she has successfully run a theatre for over a decade, taking it through a major rebuilding project along the way. She has also calmly and successfully withstood criticism both for some artistic choices and for her decision to rename what had always been the Tricycle as the Kiln.
To add to the credentials, she has regularly directed on the South Bank with hits including Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf*cker With the Hat and, most recently, The Father and the Assassin by Anupama Chandrasekhar. On home ground, major hits include the Florian Zeller trilogy, The Father, The Mother and The Son as well as the multi-award-winning Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti.
The reason why the National’s succession panel will have had such an easy job goes beyond sound artistic judgement.
Indhu Rubasingham is an enthusiastic and generous individual who will do wonders for the theatre’s reputation, while at the same time having the kind of wisdom and experience necessary to run a large business, even one that is being starved of funds by HM Government and Arts Council England.
There is one minor question that she will need to answer and it echoes commentary at the time that Rufus Norris took the helm.
The lady who is to become Director Designate in spring 2024, before becoming Director and Joint Chief Executive a year later, has a rather large Shakespearean lacuna in her CV. Time will tell whether she is keen to commission and direct works by the Bard or his presence at the National continues to be far too much of a rarity. More generally, her experience has largely been in the field of new writing from both this country and the United States and that is likely to be the theme going forwards.
If anyone doubted her enthusiasm and commitment, Indhu Rubasingham’s response to the announcement speaks volumes: “it’s a huge honour to be appointed Director of the National Theatre—for me, this is the best job in the world. 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. I’ve been fortunate to have directed on the National Theatre’s stages and to have witnessed firsthand the commitment, collaboration, brilliance and pride of those who bring the magic to the building, both on stage and off. There’s nowhere like it, and it will be a joy to be a part of this iconic building’s next chapter, leading the company alongside Kate [Varah, Executive Director and joint CEO].
"I am thrilled to be following in the footsteps of Rufus, and I look forward to working closely with him from next year as I plan my first season.”
At a time when the theatrical community is struggling, it is comforting to know that the National Theatre will be in good hands for the next decade or so. The mouth already waters at the prospect of the programming for her inaugural season.