Indu Rubasingham and Kate Varah, the first women to run the National Theatre, are setting the stage for a bold new chapter: “inspired by the NT’s rich past and shaking up its future”. We began working together on developing their season identity for this iconic moment in their 60-year history, defying convention by signalling change without changing what makes the identity strong.

[Arts & Culture]

The challenge: communicate radical ambition and newness, while coexisting with legacy programming still in play. To spark excitement and preserve continuity, we introduced playful motion and a bold new colour to bring freshness, building on their existing guidelines.

Inspired by the spirit of ‘shaking things up’, visuals now flow, shift, and play within a flexible grid, bringing movement to the design system. It’s no longer bound by margins but guided by custom gravity rules. Nothing sits still; every element moves with purpose, capturing the National Theatre’s restless energy and constant push toward what’s next.

Collaborative working sessions with the exceptional National Theatre in-house team fuelled our pace, enabling us to turn ideas into reality at record speed.

CREDITS

Photographs © Adama Jalloh, Ben Daniels, Billie Scheepers, Christian Tierney, David Reiss, Ekua King, John Balsom, Madeleine Mulqueen, Phil Sharp, Philip Vile, Rachell Smith, Suki Dhanda

Bacchae and Hamlet campaigns by The National Theatre Creative Studio