Rufus Norris, former director of the National Theatre, has spoken about his life after stepping down from the role in 2025, a period marked by personal loss and new beginnings. The 60-year-old director left the NT after a decade at the helm, three weeks after his mother died following a long battle with vascular dementia. He described the transition as a relief, saying, 'It’s a relief … I’m irrelevant!'
Norris filled his time with DIY, kayaking and a house move, explaining that he needed a complete break from work. 'I’m a bit of a workaholic, but I’m also a bird of simple brain so I can as easily lose myself in how to build a shed or do up a place,' he said.
His first post-NT project is directing a Turkish-language production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman at the Zorlu Performing Arts Centre in Istanbul. The production features a star-studded cast including Halit Ergenç, known for his role in Magnificent Century, as Willy Loman, and Zerrin Tekindor as Linda Loman. The play has been freshly translated by Hira Tekindor and includes English surtitles.
Norris described the challenge of staging the intimate play in a 2,300-seat auditorium, saying, 'It’s an enormous theatre, in many ways too big for that intimate play, so the challenge is that you’ve got to somehow draw audiences in and find a way to celebrate the epic scale of the space from the content of the play.' The production has been praised for its haunting quality and psychologically intense performances.
Reflecting on his choice of play, Norris noted the personal connection to his mother's dementia, saying, 'My mum went through a very long process of decline. She hadn’t recognised me for three years before she died.' He added that the play explores the tragedy of dementia alongside the toxic illusions of the American dream.
