University And Drama school Teaching
Brian is Professor of Theatre & Performance at Rose Bruford College, and from 2020-2023 served as the Programme Director of BA Theatre & Social Change, a programme which launched in October 2020 with a cohort of 9 brilliant students, makers, agitators, producers, wonders. He now teaches Solo Performance and Independent Creative Practice for TSC at RBC. Previous to Rose Bruford, Brian served (2019) as Knowledge Exchange Fellow at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and before that (from 2012-2018) as Reader in Theatre at University of Chichester, which he taught courses such as Solo Performance, The Body in Performance, Production, Gender, Sexuality & Theatre, and Professional Development. Previous to Chichester, Brian taught at Queen Mary, University of London, King’s College School of Medicine and Central School of Speech and Drama, as a Course Convenor and Teaching Associate. Classes include Making Theatre Work, Theatre and Its Others, Group Practice, Individual Practical Project, Performing Medicine and as a Mentor for MA students doing practice-based research. While at QMUL, Brian was nominated for the Draper’s Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Brian dedicates all of his teaching to Dr. Catherine Silverstone, one of his PhD Supervisors and the world’s most caring, compassionate and thoughtful academics ever. Catherine passed away in 2020 and the worlds of academia and performance studies mourn and miss her greatly.
Performance Workshops
In addition to performing, Brian leads a number of workshops for students, emerging artists and interested community groups. CAMP LIVE ART explores interactive performance and was developed as part of DIY 6, an initiative by the Live Art Development Agency. It was piloted at Colchester Arts Centre and also facilitated at Contact, Manchester for their Flying Solo Festival. LET ME HEAR YOUR BODY TALK is a workshop on autobiography & performance which was developed for DaDa Festival at Bluecoat, Liverpool and also facilitated for HOME (Manchester), Performing Medicine at Shoreditch Town Hall (London), Limmud (Warwick) and National University of Singapore. A third workshop, CARPE THE MINUTA, on performance intervention and ethics of performance, was created for Ptarmigan and DCCC and facilitated in Tromso, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallin.
To enquire about a workshop please be in touch.
BALL/Medical Teaching
Since 2003, Brian has toured his show BALL & Other Funny Stories About Cancer to medical schools and universities extensively, first through support of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation for Humanism in Medicine and the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology, and then through lots of other organisations. Performances of BALL and follow-up workshops were brought as special events or keynote speeches at over 50 universities and organisations. Although BALL went into semi-retirement in 2007, upon moving to the UK, Brian began producing the show for new audiences, and crafting medical school lessons around autobiography and medical/performance ethics. From 2009-2013, Brian worked as an Associate Artist for Performing Medicine, a project by the Clod Ensemble. During this time he convened courses, given workshops and performances at King’s College School of Medicine, Imperial University, Southampton University and Barts & The London Hospital, Sydney University Medical School and Harvard Medical School. Brian now leads courses for nurses and others on Communicating with Clarity & Confidence for UCLH’s Exemplar Programme.
Academic Research and Publication
Brian’s monograph, Theatre & Cancer was published in 2019. Beyond this, Brian has published extensively in academic journals and popular publications (such as iNews) on topics related to illness, performance, disability, and community, including Routledge Companion to Performance and Medicine (2024), Routledge Handbook of Disability Arts Culture & Media (2018), and books such as Performance Health & Well-Being (2017), Performance & The Medical Body (2017). A collection of his plays (BALL & Other Funny Stories About Cancer) was published by Oberon in 2012 and reprinted in 2015. Also published in 2012 was a DVD compilation of his cancer/illness-related performance work, entitled CANCER CANCER CANCER CANCER CANCER: complete cancer works by Brian Lobel (Live Art Development Agency). Other research has appeared in Contemporary Theatre Review, Performance Research, PAJ, Beyond Masculinity, Access All Areas and many other places. His interview with powerhouse Jess Thom (Touretteshero) is published in the Routledge Handbook of Disability Arts and Culture (2018), and Brian has published extensively with the BRIGHTLIGHT research group, in relation to There is a Light (2017) and workshops with young adults with cancer. More information on these to come. For a full CV of publications, please be in touch.