Hampstead Theatre announces Roxana Silbert as artistic director

Roxana Silbert, the current artistic director of Birmingham Rep, has been announced as the new artistic director and joint chief executive of Hampstead Theatre.

Silbert will replace Edward Hall, who has run Hampstead since 2010 with Greg Ripley-Duggan, in spring 2019. Silbert's first season will open in time with Hampstead's 60th Birthday celebrations in September.

She will run the theatre alongside Ripley-Duggan, Hampstead's executive producer and joint chief executive.

Silbert joined Birmingham Rep in 2012 and previously was associate director of the RSC and artistic director of Paines Plough Theatre Company. Her recent directing credits include Woyzeck (a new version by Leo Butler and Birmingham Repertory Theatre co-production with International Dance Festival Birmingham), Amèdee (by Ionesco, adapted by Sean Foley at Birmingham Repertory Theatre) and What Shadows.

The new artistic director has a long association with the theatre, commenting: "Hampstead Theatre is where I fell in love with new plays. When I first arrived in London from a city with no producing theatre and a school with no drama department, I had very little experience of theatre. I saw every production there for the first five years of my London life, usually more than once."

Her first job was as a script reader at Hampstead Theatre.

She added: "We need new theatre now more than ever to inspire audiences wrestling and celebrating a world that is moving at
breakneck speed. I'm honoured and excited to build on Edward Hall and Greg Ripley Duggan's phenomenal success and to join the Hampstead team as we look forward to the future of this unique company."

Silbert's final shows at Birmingham Rep will be Edmond De Bergerac in March 2019 and the European premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns in June 2019.