Professor Brian Lobel
Professor of Theatre & Performance
Summary
Brian Lobel is a performer, teacher and curator, who is interested in creating work about bodies and how they are watched, policed, poked, prodded and loved by others.
He has shown work internationally in a range of contexts, from Harvard Medical School and the Sydney Opera House to the National Theatre (London) and the Lagos Theatre Festival, blending provocative humour with insightful reflection.
His book Theatre & Cancer was published in 2019. Brian has received commissions and grants from the Wellcome Trust, Complicité, Jerwood, UMS (Ann Arbor), the British Council and Arts Council England, among others. Brian is a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellow and the co-founder of The Sick of the Fringe.
Teaching
Research
Teaching Area
Theatre & Social Change
Qualifications
PhD thesis: ‘Playing the Cancer Card: Illness, Performance and Spectatorship’ – Queen Mary University of London (2012)
Certificate in Learning & Teaching (with Distinction) – Queen Mary University of London (2011)
MA in Performance (with Distinction) – Queen Mary University of London (2007)
BA (Highest Honours) in Theatre & Social Identity and Political Science – University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) (2003)
Professional Practice
Recent projects include:
‘24 Italian Songs & Arias’ (with Gweneth-Ann Rand), supported by UMS (2021)
Sex with Cancer’ (with Joon Lynn Goh), supported by Arts Council England (2020–2021)
‘BINGE’, supported by La Jolla Playhouse (USA), Cork Midsummer Festival (Ireland) and Cambridge Junction (2019–2020), also at Fierce Festival (Birmingham), HOME (Manchester) and Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow)
‘Fun with Cancer Patients: Kanazawa’ (2017–2019)
‘A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer’ (2016)
Other works include: ‘Purge’, ‘BALL & Other Funny Stories About Cancer’, ‘You Have to Forgive Me, You Have to Forgive Me, You Have to Forgive Me’, ‘RUACH’, ‘Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There’.
External Duties
External Examiner: BA Drama, De Montfort University (2017–2021)
Publications
Lobel, B. (2019). Theatre & Cancer. Red Globe Press.