'It's a huge honour': Indhu Rubasingham to be National Theatre's next director

Indhu Rubasingham has been announced as the next director of the National Theatre - the first time that a woman and a person of colour has taken on the biggest role in British theatre.

- Nadia Khomami, Lanre Bakare

Rubasingham, who has been the 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.

During her tenure at the Kiln, Rubasingham collaborated with the writer Zadie Smith on White Teeth and The Wife of Willesden, which transferred to Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York this year. She directed Ayad Akhtar's play The Invisible Hand, which was nominated for an Olivier award, and her other directing credits there include Red Velvet, Handbagged, When the Crows Visit, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes, The House that Will Not Stand, and Paper Dolls.

Highlights of her programming at the Kiln include Florian Zeller's trilogy The Father, The Mother and The Son - and Ryan Calais Cameron's Retrograde.

Born in Sheffield and of Sri Lankan heritage, Rubasingham studied drama at Hull University and went on to hold positions at the Gate theatre, the Birmingham Rep and the Young Vic.

In 2017, she was awarded an MBE for services to theatre in the new year honours list.