Rufus Norris: the new National Theatre director

Rufus Norris has been named as the new director at the National, the biggest job in British theatre. Can he bridge the divide between mainstream performance and socially engaged, grassroots theatre?

Mr Norris, an associate director at the National for the past two years, says he’s going to attack the job with gusto and as much vitality as predecessor Nick Hytner. He got a standing ovation from staff.

Mr Hytner, in turn, has praised his replacement as a “deeply considered and adventurous” director.

Mr Norris has an 18-month run in before taking up the role but the National, like all mainstream British theatre, is at a crossroads.

At the grassroots there is a huge wave of socially engaged writing and devising; people are innovating into new formats and spaces – what Mr Norris jokingly referred to as “nutty stuff” – that is bringing young people into not just contact but close and continued contact with theatre.

But given the National’s big budget, subsidy and prominence there is pressure to deliver on “the canon” of established work, with which Mr Norris admits he is less well established.

It’s clear the National has given him a remit to attract “big names to do their best work” – but when I asked him what excites him about modern British theatre, he cited the rapid rise of women directors and its changing cultural diversity.

At the National, Mr Norris has directed: The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (2013), Table by Tanya Ronder (2013), London Road by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork (2011/2012), Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka (2009) and Market Boy by David Eldridge (2006).