Indhu Rubasingham How to define a new era at the National

In 1978, Julia Pascal became the first woman to direct a performance at the National Theatre in London.

- David Jays

It caused some press attention. Peter Hall, the artistic director, confided to his diary: "Goodness, women directors can direct, just as birds can sing."

It was a further three years before a woman directed a full production at his theatre - Nancy Meckler with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - and a further 42 years before the National appointed a woman to lead the organisation. Indhu Rubasingham will become the National's seventh artistic director (following Laurence Olivier, Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn, Nicholas Hytner and Rufus Norris), the first woman, and the first person of colour in the role.

The theatre world has responded to her appointment with a reflection that it's about bloody time. Women lead many prominent theatres, among them Michelle Terry at Shakespeare's Globe, Nancy Medina at Bristol Old Vic and Rachel O'Riordan at the Lyric Hammersmith. But Rubasingham's move from the highly regarded Kiln theatre to the National is a statement of intent.

Like most big jobs, it's more than a little impossible. The National's artistic director must lead the institution and also set a direction of travel for the theatre industry as a whole. When advocacy is required - in response to a pandemic, funding crises or the shrinking of school arts provision and university courses Rubasingham's will be the first voice many want to hear.