Indhu Rubasingham

Indhu Rubasingham is an English theatre director and the current artistic director of the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London. She succeeded Nicolas Kent in May 2012.

Since new leadership, the Tricycle Theatre has received an Olivier Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre’^[1] in honour of its production of Moira Buffini’s Handbagged, which transferred from the Tricycle to the Vaudeville Theatre in London's West End^[2] and went on National Tour,^[3] directed by Rubasingham.

Other notable awards include the Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti featuring Adrian Lester. Red Velvet opened Rubasingham’s inaugural season at the Tricycle in 2012 and garnered awards for Most Promising Playwright^[4] and Best Actor.^[5] Red Velvet transferred to New York^[6] and also played in the West End as part of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s season at the Garrick Theatre in 2016,^[7] directed by Rubasingham. Red Velvet is based on the story of Ira Aldridge, the first black actor to play Othello on a London stage in 1833.

Her extensive freelance career includes directing at the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Almeida, and Birmingham Rep. In 2015 she directed Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherfucker with the Hat at the National Theatre as part of Rufus Norris' inaugural season.^[8] Other credits include Ruined at the Almeida Theatre and an adaptation of the Ramayana for Birmingham Rep, which went on to perform at the National Theatre. Credits at the Royal Court Theatre include Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch and Sugar Mummies.^[9]

Born in Sheffield to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka, Rubasingham was educated at Nottingham Girls' High School.,^[10] after which she studied drama at Hull University.^[11]

She won an Arts Council Bursary to work as an assistant director at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, where she assisted director Mike Leigh and worked on a range of theatre from pantomime and musicals to new writing plays.^[12] She then went on to work as an associate director at the Gate Theatre (London), the Young Vic, and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.^[13]

Since being at the Tricycle, productions directed include Paper Dolls,The House That Will Not Stand, Handbagged, Red Velvet, Multitudes, and A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes. She has also directed radio plays for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and the BBC World Service.

Other awards include the Asian Women of Achievement Award^[14] and the Liberty Human Rights Award.^[15]

In August 2014, while she was artistic director, the Tricycle Theatre was at the centre of a controversy over the funding of the UK Jewish Film Festival.^[16]

Notable productions

• The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar, Tricycle Theatre, 2016
• A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes by Marcus Gardley, Tricycle Theatre, 2015
• The Motherfucker With The Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis, National Theatre, 2015
• Multitudes by John Hollingworth, Tricycle Theatre, 2015
• The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley, Tricycle Theatre, 2014
• Handbagged by Moira Buffini, Tricycle Theatre, 2013; Vaudeville Theatre, 2014
• Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti, Tricycle Theatre, 2012; St. Ann's Warehouse, 2014; Garrick Theatre, 2016
• Belong by Bola Agbaje, Royal Court Theatre, 2012
• Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones, Tricycle Theatre, 2011
• Ruined by Lynn Nottage, Almeida Theatre, 2010
• Women, Power and Politics, by various authors including Moira Buffini and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Tricycle Theatre, 2010
• Disconnect by Anupama Chandrasekhar, Royal Court Theatre, 2010
• Detaining Justice by Bola Agbaje, Tricycle Theatre, 2009
• The Great Game (with Nicolas Kent), Tricycle Theatre, 2009
• Wuthering Heights, adapted by April De Angelis from the novel by Emily Brontë, Birmingham Rep, 2008
• Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar, Royal Court Theatre, 2007
• Sugar Mummies by Tanika Gupta, Royal Court Theatre, 2006
• Fabulation by Lynn Nottage, Tricycle Theatre, 2006
• Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz, Hampstead Theatre, 2004
• Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith, Liverpool Everyman and Hampstead Theatre, 2003
• The Misanthrope by Molière, in an adaptation by Martin Crimp, Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 2002
• Romeo and Juliet, Chichester Festival Theatre, 2002
• Secret Rapture by David Hare, Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 2001
• Clubland by Roy Williams, Royal Court Theatre, 2001
• The Waiting Room by Tanika Gupta, National Theatre, 2000
• Ramayana, Birmingham Rep, 2000
• Lift Off by Roy Williams, Royal Court Theatre, 1999
• Shakuntala by Kalidasa adapted by Peter Oswald, Gate Theatre (London), 1997
• No Boys' Cricket Club by Roy Williams, Theatre Royal Stratford East, 1996
• Sugar Dollies by Klaus Chatten, Gate Theatre (London), 1996
• D’yer Eat With Your Fingers?!, Theatre Royal Stratford East, 1994/1995

References