Theatre director Indhu Rubasingham began her career assisting Mike Leigh at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. She went on to work as an associate director at the Gate theatre, the Young Vic and the Birmingham Rep and in 2012 became artistic director at Kilburn's Tricycle theatre. Rubasingham's inaugural production, Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti, starring Adrian Lester, transferred to New York in March. Her Olivier-nominated production of Moira Buffini's comedy, Handbagged premiered at the Tricycle last year and has just transferred to the West End's Vaudeville theatre, where it will run until 2nd August 2014.

Festival: London international festival of theatre

This festival brings international works to different London venues. I'm looking forward to a play called The Shipment by Korean American playwright Young Jean Lee, which is coming over from America and will play at the Barbican. I've read the script and it's very provocative, on paper anyway. I'm also looking forward to a piece called Turfed [by Renato Rocha], which uses football to explore youth homelessness. It's created in partnership with Street Child World Cup, which works with young homeless people from São Paulo. I think work with emerging artists and young artists on an international scale is really important.

Film: Mr Turner

I've seen an edit of Mike Leigh's new film, which I think is stunningly beautiful in every way – the acting, the cinematography, the film-making… it's an amazing piece of work. I learned a lot about about the painter Turner by watching this film. Marion Bailey is in it, who's superlative, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville – it's got a really good cast. I worked with Mike Leigh when I was very young – not even a proper director – and he's been a mentor figure for me. He's a true artist; absolutely committed to following his way and his journey. His collaborations bring out the best in everybody's work. Such care and love has gone into every aspect of this film.

Theatre: Intimate Apparel

Lynn Nottage's play, which is coming to the Theatre Royal Bath [29 May-28 June], looks at the empowerment of a young black woman working as a seamstress in New York in 1905. Intimate Apparel is one of Nottage's earlier plays, and was hugely successful in the States, but this is the UK premiere. She's a playwright I have directed several times, including her Pulitzer-winning play, Ruined, which I did at the Almeida in 2010. Nottage is the real deal as a writer; her voice is rich, complex and she believes in making theatre that changes the world by telling very specific, human stories. I think she's a playwright who will be talked about and studied in 100 years' time.

Exhibition: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier

I'm looking forward to the glamour, flamboyancy, colour and vibrancy of this exhibition at the Barbican. It appeals to my frivolous sense of the 80s and 90s, and seeing how Gaultier influenced fashion and women in that period. It's great in terms of visual ideas and costume ideas for the theatre, and Gaultier is an icon of contemporary culture. I don't often go to fashion exhibitions; this is a one-off. Different art forms can open your way of thinking, and I think that's really key. I take inspiration from people and images – that's what I often like about photography. You can create stories and worlds around a single image.

Album: Everybody Down by Kate Tempest

I think Kate Tempest is a unique voice. She's the youngest person to win the Ted Hughes award and she's a phenomenal artist, as a theatre-maker and a collaborator. Her voice and her verse push boundaries, so it will be interesting to hear what she does with this album. She's crossing art forms and really challenging people's perceptions of what live performance is about. Brand New Ancients [Tempest's theatrical spoken-word piece] blew my mind and we had a play that she wrote, Hopelessly Devoted, at the Tricycle. I'm always surprised by what she can do and what she challenges us to engage with.

Book: Sebastian Barry's The Temporary Gentleman

I'm looking forward to reading this book – I have no idea what it's about but Sebastian Barry is a really interesting novelist and Irish voice. He can also cross art forms into theatre. He's a storyteller, his characters are really rich and diverse, and he's a delicate writer. I don't get much time to read, but I'm going on a plane soon so that's a book that I'm looking forward to buying for the journey.