After graduating from Exeter University, Ali co-founded Theatre Alibi in 1982 and was its Co-Artistic Director until 1990. She was involved in either the devising, directing or production of over twenty shows. Theatre Alibi remains one of Britain’s longest-lived and most vibrant regional companies. https://www.theatrealibi.co.uk/

In the mid-1980s Ali saw the acclaimed Polish company Gardzienice in Cardiff and became Assistant Director to Włodzimierz Staniewski. She worked closely with Gardzienice, particularly on their landmark productions Carmina Burana and Metamorphoses. She remained close to the company for the rest of her life, writing extensively about their practice. http://gardzienice.org

On her return from Poland, Ali led workshops for DV8 in preparation for their show MSM at the Royal Court. She directed Joan of Arc by Chris Hurford at Union Chapel London and Helen’s Passion by Angela Lyras at the Spacex Gallery Exeter, as well as the recast production of Misery by Simon Moore at the Criterion in the West End.

In 1995 she began work as a lecturer at Royal Holloway College, where she would eventually become Honorary Research Fellow in 2011.

She also taught for many years at RADA, where she ran a hugely popular MA course, and at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

In 2006, Ali founded The Quick and the Dead, an international performance research group that pioneered new forms of actor training. Her methodology – Core Training – became recognised as a highly original form of deep training which the company presented in various countries. The company’s multi-media installation You Looking at Me was inspired by the work of Paula Rego and filmed by BAFTA winner Molly Dineen. Rego herself attended the premiere at Shoreditch Town Hall, London in 2015.

As well as many articles and contributing chapters, Ali created and edited the seminal work Actor Training (Routledge, 2000 and 2010) and assembled its companion website. It has become a core text in universities and acting schools globally. It is in its second edition and has been translated into five languages.

She also produced an authoritative account of Gardzienice’s work with its Artistic Director Włodzimierz Staniewski in Hidden Territories (Routledge 2004), as well as documenting her own practice via multimedia platforms with Routledge Performance Archive and Digital Theatre, and in Core Training for the Relational Actor (Routledge 2013) with Peter Hulton at the Arts Documentation Unit.

From 2014, Ali became interested in the application of her work to promote social change, particularly in leadership training for women. She travelled extensively, giving workshops with the business leadership training group Dramatic Resources. https://www.dramaticresources.co.uk/

In 2017, Ali was awarded the Medal of Honour for Services to Polish Culture.

Ali died of cancer in 2019. She left her husband Chris and two daughters, Hannah and Sophie.