The National Theatre of Scotland has announced that their Artistic Director, Vicky Featherstone, has accepted the post of Artistic Director with the Royal Court Theatre in London. She will start her new position, taking over from Dominic Cooke, in Spring 2013.

Featherstone was the first Artistic Director of the NTS, taking up the post in July 2004. She will continue in her role until the end of 2012. Richard Findlay, NTS Chairman, said: "Vicky has done a fantastic job during her time here with many a great success built around a strong team. She will be sorely missed, not just by us, but by the entire Scottish theatre community. We wish her well in her new job."

Said Featherstone: "It was with a complex mixture of real sadness and joy that I told Richard Findlay about being offered my new job as Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre in London. It was the Royal Court which first opened my eyes to the possibilities of theatre and playwrights when I worked there early in my career and it was this passion which led me to Scotland, chasing the brilliance of, amongst so many others, David Greig, David Harrower, Zinnie Harris, Greg Burke and Douglas Maxwell. I thank you all.

For it is a life-changing experience to be the person to set up a new national theatre. As I have said many times, the National Theatre of Scotland is part of a continuum of theatre. All we have done and are doing within the Company is made possible by the richness of Scotland - its people, its geography, its brilliant complexity."