Nadia Fall OBE became artistic director of the Young Vic in 2025, opening her first season with Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. Her career includes acclaimed productions like Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party at Theatre Royal Stratford and Chewing Gum Dreams, created by Michaela Coel, as well as Hobson’s Choice at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
She has also directed for film and television. In 2018, she made the short film Bush, followed by No Masks, a drama about key workers during the pandemic. Her first feature, Brides, premiered at Sundance in 2025.
The Young Vic’s 2026/27 season will include the world premiere of the Thelma & Louise musical, an English-language adaptation of Eurotrash with Ben Whishaw, and a new play by Debbie Tucker Green called Dissent. Fall will also direct August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, its first UK staging in two decades.
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She names Prince’s Little Red Corvette as her favorite song.
Her current read is Aria Aber’s Good Girl, a novel about a 19-year-old Afghan-German woman in Berlin trying to capture life through photography. Fall sees it as a potential film.
Growing up, she did not realize films could reflect her own experiences. La Haine resonated with her during her time in Paris. She calls Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You the greatest TV show ever made.
Her personal mantra is “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, a phrase she attributes to Jon Bon Jovi.
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While working on a recent film, she spent months in Rome. The city’s churches left an impression, especially Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew, which she describes as massive, beautiful, and awe-inspiring.
The best play she has ever seen was Billie Piper in Yerma at the Young Vic.
Her last meal would be at Karim’s, a family-run restaurant near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, serving traditional Indian food. Her parents are from Delhi, and the place holds deep personal meaning.
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One unforgettable venue is the ancient amphitheater in Epidaurus, Greece, where she worked on Phèdre with Helen Mirren, Dominic Cooke, and Ruth Negga. The heat, the moon, bats on stage, and distant howling wolves made it a spiritual experience.
The Taj Mahal once took her breath away. She remembers singing and dancing there at sunset with her siblings and cousins.
She would revive the trend of meeting in person and turning phones off.
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