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Aliya Al-Hassan

Aliya Al-Hassan

Aliya Al-Hassan is UK Managing Editor of BroadwayWorld. A London-based theatre critic and journalist, she has a life-long passion for the arts, with a focus on theatre. She is always keen to promote new work and smaller venues. Follow her on Twitter @aliyajaderosa






MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

Review: THE GREAT GATSBY, Starring Jamie Muscato and Corbin Bleu
Review: THE GREAT GATSBY, Starring Jamie Muscato and Corbin Bleu
April 25, 2025

There's a party going on at the London Coliseum this summer. Unfortunately, it's one of those parties that you eagerly look forward to, only to wish you had stayed at home and read an improving book instead.

Review Roundup: GHOSTS, starring Victoria Smurfit and Callum Scott Howells
Review Roundup: GHOSTS, starring Victoria Smurfit and Callum Scott Howells
April 17, 2025

Gary Owen’s new play, a contemporary reimagining of Ibsen’s classic, is directed by Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan, reuniting the team behind the critically acclaimed Iphigenia in Splott, Romeo and Julie and Killology.

Review: SPEED, Bush Theatre
Review: SPEED, Bush Theatre
April 11, 2025

With so much potential material to explore, it is incredible that until now, a play has not been written about speed awareness courses. Following the success of the Olivier-nominated Blue Mist, writer Mohamed-Zain Dada and director Milli Bhatia come to the Bush Theatre with their darkly amusing new production Speed.

Review: PLAYHOUSE CREATURES, Orange Tree Theatre
Review: PLAYHOUSE CREATURES, Orange Tree Theatre
March 26, 2025

It is said that we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before. In April De Angelis's Playhouse Creatures, she celebrates five women who were clever innovators and brave pioneers of the stage at a time when female actors were openly objectified, judged and derided.

Guest Blog: Writer and Actor Rosie Day on Her New Play (THIS IS NOT A) HAPPY ROOM
Guest Blog: Writer and Actor Rosie Day on Her New Play (THIS IS NOT A) HAPPY ROOM
March 21, 2025

Rosie Day is a playwright and actor, starring in the world premiere of (This is not a) Happy Room opening at the King's Head Theatre later this month. In this Guest Blog for BroadwayWorld, Rosie talks about the ever-increasing challenges to those working in the entertainment industry, isolation and the need for connection among young actors.

Review Roundup: CLUELESS THE MUSICAL at the Trafalgar Theatre
Review Roundup: CLUELESS THE MUSICAL at the Trafalgar Theatre
March 14, 2025

Clueless is a new musical comedy based on the Paramount Pictures classic film. The modern spin on Jane Austen’s Emma gets another timeless makeover from the original film’s writer-director alongside a majorly acclaimed creative team.

Review: WOW AT 15, Royal Albert Hall
Review: WOW AT 15, Royal Albert Hall
March 10, 2025

The global movement and charity WOW (Women of the World) is now in its 15th year. To mark the occasion, WOW held a special evening to celebrate International Women's Day on Saturday 8 March.

Review: THE HOUSE PARTY, Rose Theatre
Review: THE HOUSE PARTY, Rose Theatre
March 8, 2025

Sex, power, gender and class: August Strindberg's Miss Julie may have first been performed in 1889, but its themes live on. In Laura Lomas's vivid reimagining of the play, The House Party, a seemingly happy event becomes the chaotic centre for a night where misogyny and the insidious creep of social media has a devastating impact upon the lives of the teenagers involved.

Review Roundup: What Did the Critics Think of Cate Blanchett in THE SEAGULL?
Review Roundup: What Did the Critics Think of Cate Blanchett in THE SEAGULL?
March 7, 2025

Cate Blanchett and Tom Burke make their return to the stage in Thomas Ostermeier's new production of Chekhov’s The Seagull. What did the critics think?

Review: PUNCH, Young Vic
Review: PUNCH, Young Vic
March 7, 2025

Based on the memoir of Jacob Dunne, Punch is the sobering true story of the tragic and rippling consequences of a single punch thrown on a night out. 

Interview: Naomi Westerman on Queer Joy, Anthropology and Her Play PUPPY
Interview: Naomi Westerman on Queer Joy, Anthropology and Her Play PUPPY
February 28, 2025

Naomi Westerman's play Puppy is coming to the King's Head Theatre in April. Billed as  an outrageous, sex-positive, female-centric comedy about dogging, queerness, feminist porn, protest, the patriarchy, and Nick Clegg.

Review Roundup: THE SCORE, Directed by Trevor Nunn
Review Roundup: THE SCORE, Directed by Trevor Nunn
February 28, 2025

Legendary stage and screen actor Brian Cox stars as Johann Sebastian Bach in Oliver Cotton’s new play, The Score, originally presented at the Theatre Royal Bath.

Review: ALTERATIONS, National Theatre
Review: ALTERATIONS, National Theatre
February 28, 2025

Michael Abbensetts was the first Black writer to have a series commissioned by the BBC: the groundbreaking Empire Road, which had an almost entirely Black cast and crew. The Guyanese writer's work has been largely forgotten, so it seems appropriate that the National Theatre, with its important Black Plays Archive, has chosen to stage his play Alterations, not seen since 1978.

Review Roundup: THE LAST LAUGH at Noël Coward Theatre
Review Roundup: THE LAST LAUGH at Noël Coward Theatre
February 27, 2025

Direct from a sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Last Laugh is a brand-new laugh-a-minute play which re-imagines the lives of three of Britain's all-time greatest comedy heroes – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse.

Review: PRIDE & PREJUDICE (*SORT OF), Richmond Theatre
Review: PRIDE & PREJUDICE (*SORT OF), Richmond Theatre
February 25, 2025

How many ways can you re-tell Jane Austen? Isobel McArthur continues to prove it is more than possible to stage a show bursting with silliness, satire and the sharpest wit without losing the essence of Austen's beloved work.

Review Roundup: Jamie Lloyd's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Review Roundup: Jamie Lloyd's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
February 20, 2025

Tom Hiddleston is Benedick and Hayley Atwell is Beatrice. Two of their generation’s finest actors collaborate with director Jamie Lloyd again in this savagely funny and beautifully tender battle of wits. Much Ado About Nothing is now open at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. What did the critics think?

Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
February 20, 2025

After a rather muted reception of The Tempest, fans of director Jamie Lloyd’s work can breathe a sigh of relief. It seems that he has discovered both fun and colour in this brilliant and bold version of Much Ado About Nothing starring Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell.

Review Roundup: Did Jonathan Bailey Make an Impression in RICHARD II?
Review Roundup: Did Jonathan Bailey Make an Impression in RICHARD II?
February 19, 2025

Richard II is played by Jonathan Bailey, whose past work includes Bridgerton, Fellow Travellers, Cassio in Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre production of Othello and Edgar to Ian McKellen’s King Lear. He has also won an Olivier Award for his role of Jamie in Company and is Fiyero in the Wicked movie. What did the critics think of the show?



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