Amit Sharma has been appointed as the new artistic director of London’s Kiln theatre, succeeding Indhu Rubasingham who is stepping down after more than a decade.
Sharma, who is currently the Kiln’s associate director, will also serve as CEO and takes up the position in December. He described his appointment as “beyond my wildest dreams” and said Rubasingham had been “a huge inspiration”.
The Kiln, on Kilburn High Road in north-west London, is a theatre “right at the heart of its community” added Sharma, calling it “a beacon for the people of Brent, bringing audiences to the borough from across London, the UK and internationally. There’s a magic that happens on that stage”.
Sharma had a hit at the Kiln in April with his production of Ryan Calais Cameron’s play Retrograde, about Sidney Poitier. He also directed The Boy With Two Hearts, the true story of a family forced to flee the Taliban, which transferred from Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff to the National Theatre in London.
His previous roles include deputy artistic director of Birmingham Rep, associate artistic director of Manchester’s Royal Exchange and associate director at Graeae theatre company, which champions the inclusion of deaf and disabled people in the arts. Throughout his career, Sharma – who has a physical impairment – has been a passionate advocate for deaf and disabled representation and diversity on stage and screen.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2020, Sharma said it was shocking that people of colour made up just 8% of the leadership of England’s 50 highest-funded theatres. He continued: “How many of the top 50 are being led by a deaf and disabled person? Or the top 100? Or top 150? There’s a phrase that disabled people often use, which is: ‘Nothing about us without us’ and it is paramount we now put this into practice, starting with leadership.”
His appointment at the Kiln comes four months after the Unicorn theatre in London announced that Rachel Bagshaw would succeed Justin Audibert as artistic director. Bagshaw, formerly an associate director at the Unicorn, where her productions have included The Bee in Me, uses a wheelchair.
There has been change at the top of several other major UK theatres this year: Tim Sheader is to take over from Michael Longhurst at the Donmar Warehouse while David Byrne replaces Vicky Featherstone at the Royal Court. That leaves Regent’s Park Open Air theatre and the New Diorama looking for new artistic directors. Suba Das stepped down as creative director of Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse in August while Bryony Shanahan and Roy Alexander Weise, joint artistic directors and chief executives at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, are also leaving. Rufus Norris has announced that he will stand down from the National Theatre in spring 2025, with Rubasingham one of several names tipped for his replacement.
Sita McIntosh, chair of the board at the Kiln (formerly known as the Tricycle theatre), said that they had spent two months working through almost 40 applications and that Sharma had impressed the selection panel with “his commitment to Kiln theatre and our values, his artistic vision for the future and his 360 view of what the building can represent and offer the local community of Brent”.
Rubasingham added: “I am very excited about the appointment of Amit Sharma as the new artistic director of Kiln theatre. He is a person and an artist I greatly admire and respect. His integrity, values and talent are immense.”
