FOR Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham, the past 12 months have not been short of distractions.
An important settling-in period has now been successfully negotiated after the theatre doors reopened in September of last year, following the completion of a £7 million capital funding project to revitalise the venue. Speaking to the GG2 Power List, Rubasingham says she is pleased to finally be home.
“The feedback has been wonderful”, she says. “People that knew the theatre before describe it as being a grown-up version of what came before, with the building works exposing the scale of the stage for example, and newcomers are equally as excited by it.
“We’ve had over 50 per cent of audiences attending for the first time and we hope that number continues to rise. The main comments are how welcoming and warm it feels, and that the auditorium is beautiful. I have to say, personally, having worked on it for years, the theatre has exceeded my expectations.
“The first thing you notice when you arrive at the theatre is the entranceway. We now have photos lining the walkway and have an open space - as well as Kiln lights that we hope intrigues people and brings them into the main foyer, even if they don’t plan on seeing a show.
“For the regular visitors, we wanted them to be pleasantly surprised by what the theatre had to offer. We now have lots of seating areas - individual seats instead of benches and designated wheelchair areas, as well as a flexible stage.
“Though we’ve definitely settled into the new venue, refurbishing a building always comes with ongoing works and surprises that spring up daily! It’s been exciting to direct three plays in the season and refocusing my mind on future productions. It’s a real pleasure to be able to focus on the creative side.”
Rubasingham, who was presented with the Eastern Eye Award for best director in June of this year at the 2019 Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Awards for her production of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, is excited about the upcoming plays at The Kiln.
“We have When the Crows Visit, which closes at the end of November, written by Anupama Chandrasekhar – a phenomenal Indian playwright, who lives in Chennai. It’s inspired by Ibsen’s Ghosts and a terrible Delhi bus rape in 2012, telling the story of the cycles of violence in society and what lengths a mother will go to protect her son.
“Closing out the year, we have Snowflake by Mike Bartlett. This play comes to the Kiln in December and excitingly, has been rewritten to take place in Kilburn (where the theatre is based). It’s a multi-generational play that explores conflict between fathers and daughters in our current times.”
Rubasingham’s overhaul of the venue, formerly known as the Tricycle, has not been without its controversies. When she took over as artistic director from Nicholas Kent in 2012, the theatre had endured a £350,000 cut in its Arts Council grant.
There were few dissenting voices to the idea that the building needed to be modernised, but her decision to rebrand it as the Kiln Theatre was not universally popular.
Opponents lambasted her, for, what they deemed to be a certain disregard for 50 years of history. This even took the form of organised protest. In September 2018, a mere matter of days before the grand reopening, an open letter decrying the name change was published in The Guardian. The theatre’s previous two artistic directors were amongst its signatories.
Placards of protest were wielded at the press night of White Teeth but both the creative industry and the theatre’s box office takings appear to support her decision.
Last winter, White Teeth, a show set amidst the colour and vibrancy of Kilburn, set new records. Not only was the production the most financially profitable in the theatre’s history, but also the fastest-selling.
Additionally, in an open rebuttal published in The Stage, leading playwrights and arts figures put their names to a letter of support.
“We fully acknowledge the rich and special history of the Tricycle”, it states. “But we stand with Kiln and its proposition that theatre is not here to fossilise culture but to invigorate it. While honouring the past, it must also reach out to new audiences and artists, who will come to Kiln with fresh perspectives, ideas, energy. Theatre’s mutability is its strength.”
Since taking the lead role, also becoming the first non-white woman to run a major London theatre in the process, Rubasingham has overseen three West End transfers and landed two Olivier Awards for the roll of honour.
Notable amongst these is Moira Buffini's Handbagged, which transferred to the West End in 2014, before embarking on a national tour the following year.
Her star rose further in 2017 when she was awarded both an MBE and an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull, where she had previously studied drama. Rubasingham was also a recipient of the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award back in 2010.
Growing up in Mansfield, the daughter of Sri-Lankan parents, Rubasingham held no particular affection for the world of theatre as a child.
That was all to change after a chance work experience placement in her teens at the Nottingham Playhouse.
After graduation, in what she describes as her “big break”, she abandoned her postgraduate course in drama after one term to undertake an Arts Council bursary. Her role involved working as an assistant to legendary director Mike Leigh at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
After receiving “incredible training” under his mentorship, she began to plough her own furrow, taking on associate director positions at the Gate Theatre, the Young Vic and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Twitter: @IRubasingham – 10.9k
