London — Indu Rupasingham will be the next artistic director of the UK’s premier public theater company, Britain’s National Theater announced on Wednesday.
Rupasingham, who currently runs the small but influential Kiln Theater in north London, is the first woman and first person to lead the National, following six previous artistic directors Laurence Olivier, Peter Hall and Nicholas Hydner.
He will be named director in the spring of 2024 and will take over from Rufus Norris in early 2025.
Rubasingham will also become the company’s joint chief executive along with Kate Wara, who is currently the theatre’s managing director.
Rupasingham said it was a „huge honour” to lead a theater that had „played such an important role in my life”.
„Theatre has a transformative power – its ability to bring people together through shared experience and storytelling, nowhere more so than nationally,” he said.
At Chulai, Rupasingam was praised for his innovative programs that reflected the diverse communities of the surrounding area. His direction includes the stage adaptation of Zadie Smith’s novel „White Teeth,” Smith’s Chaucer-inspired play „The Wife of Wilston” and „Red Velvet.” and in New York.
He has directed several shows at the National, including the critically acclaimed Indian drama „The Father and the Assassin”, about the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi.
The National Theater produces work on three stages at its home in London’s South Bank and broadcasts performances across the UK and the world through the NT Live and National Theater at Home programmes.
„Totalny pionier w sieci. Specjalista od piwa niezależny. Ewangelista popkultury. Miłośnik muzyki. Nieprzepraszający przedsiębiorca”.