Hassan Abdulrazzak is of Iraqi origin, born in Prague and living in London. He holds a PhD in molecular biology and has worked at Harvard and Imperial College.
Hassan’s first play Baghdad Wedding, was staged at Soho Theatre in 2007 to great acclaim. It went on to have productions in Australia and India and was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Hassan’s play The Prophet was performed at The Gate Theatre in 2012 and was based on extensive interviews in Cairo with revolutionaries and soldiers, journalists and cab drivers. More recently he was commissioned by the Kevin Spacey Foundation to write Dhow Under The Sun, a play for 35 young actors, which was staged in Sharjah, UAE (Jan 2015). His play Love, Bombs and Apples (LBA) premiered at the Arcola theatre as part of the Shubbak festival, July...
Hassan Abdulrazzak is of Iraqi origin, born in Prague and living in London. He holds a PhD in molecular biology and has worked at Harvard and Imperial College.
Hassan’s first play Baghdad Wedding, was staged at Soho Theatre in 2007 to great acclaim. It went on to have productions in Australia and India and was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Hassan’s play The Prophet was performed at The Gate Theatre in 2012 and was based on extensive interviews in Cairo with revolutionaries and soldiers, journalists and cab drivers. More recently he was commissioned by the Kevin Spacey Foundation to write Dhow Under The Sun, a play for 35 young actors, which was staged in Sharjah, UAE (Jan 2015). His play Love, Bombs and Apples (LBA) premiered at the Arcola theatre as part of the Shubbak festival, July 2015. It then had a full production at Arcola Theatre in 2016 as part of a UK national tour. His new play And Here I Am (AHIM) based on the life story of a Palestinian fighter turned artist was part of Shubbak festival 2017 and went on tour. Both LBA and AHIA were part of Arab Arts Focus at the Edinburgh Fringe 2017.
Hassan is currently commissioned by Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Royal Shakespeare Company
His short plays include The Tale Of Sindbad And The Old Goat which was part of a multi-author show called Arab Nights that was performed at Soho Theatre in 2012 and later toured the UK, Lost Kingdom which was selected out of 75 scripts to be part of San Francisco's Golden Thread ReOrient 2015 festival and Trump in Palestine, part of a multi-author show called Top Trumps performed at Theatre 503 (Jan 2017).
Hassan has adapted Baghdad Wedding into a feature film for Focus Features. He is also currently writing a feature film for New Century.
Hassan has received the George Devine, Meyer-Whitworth and Pearson theatre awards as well as the Arab British Centre Award for Culture.
Press Quotes (small selection):
On And Here I Am:
"Irreverently funny....charming and compelling” The Stage ****
On Love, Bombs and Apples:
"Witty and insightful" The Scotsman ****
On The Prophet:
“Visceral, verbally dexterous, edgy, exciting, darkly humorous and downright riveting” What’s On Stage *****
On Arab Nights:
“Exquisite…impressive… the physical wit and economical elegance carry you on into empathy, beyond the daily horror of the headlines” Libby Purves in The Times ****
On Baghdad Wedding:
“Hassan Abdulrazzak’s astonishing play tells how human lives are shaped by political crisis” Michael Billington (The Guardian). Billington chose it as his favorite play of the year.
“The Prime Minister and his cabinet should take a brief course in political illumination. They should go to see Baghdad Wedding. Hot theatre" Evening Standard ****