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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

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?

Review: THE SHARK IS BROKEN, Richmond Theatre
Review: THE SHARK IS BROKEN, Richmond Theatre
February 18, 2025

The premise of The Shark is Broken is deceptively simple; three men in a boat, waiting and talking. We meet the cast of a new film in 1974 when Bruce the mechanical shark, necessary for the whole shoot, is indeed broken. Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss would go on to star in the iconic 1975 film Jaws which sparked a lifelong fear of the ocean for many.

Review: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, London Coliseum
Review: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, London Coliseum
February 17, 2025

And so to the final new production of English National Opera’s season; Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Stewart Laing and conducted by Joana Carneiro. Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s opera was last heard in London at Sadler’s Wells back in 1980, after premiering in Edinburgh in 1977, with Musgrave herself conducting.

Review Roundup: Mike Bartlett's UNICORN Canters Into The West End
Review Roundup: Mike Bartlett's UNICORN Canters Into The West End
February 14, 2025

Unicorn is Mike Bartlett's explicit, funny and provocative new play, directed by James Macdonald, starring Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan and Erin Doherty. What did the critics think?

Review: UNICORN, Garrick Theatre
Review: UNICORN, Garrick Theatre
February 14, 2025

You would think that Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan had had enough of acting roles surrounding marital discord. In Abi Morgan's hugely popular TV series The Split, the pair have been up and down on the rollercoaster of marriage for years. Now reunited on stage, alongside Erin Doherty, for Mike Bartlett's provocative new play, Unicorn, this is a stellar cast, with an excellent writer. So why does it feel rather hollow?

Review: BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF, Richmond Theatre
Review: BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF, Richmond Theatre
February 13, 2025

After debuting at Liverpool's Royal Court and successful London and West End transfers, James Graham's adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s iconic television series is now on a national tour. And what a good thing, as this is urgent and thoughtful theatre that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

Review: CHURCHILL IN MOSCOW, Orange Tree Theatre
Review: CHURCHILL IN MOSCOW, Orange Tree Theatre
February 12, 2025

In 1942 Moscow a top-secret meeting occured between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin as the Nazis rampaged through Europe and into the Soviet Union. This world premiere of Howard Brenton’s play imagines the attempts at diplomacy, political clashes and eye-watering amounts of drinking that may have occured as the two men thrashed out a deal to try to save the world.






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