Performance and the Medical Body

Dr Alex Mermikides is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Kingston University, London, UK. Her research interest is in contemporary performance–making, with a particular focus on science-engaged devised performance. Publications include Devising in Process (2010, edited with Jackie Smart), and chapters in other collections. Dr Gianna Bouchard is Principal Lecturer in Drama at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. Her research focuses on contemporary performance and live art in relation to medical science. She is co-editor of ‘On Medicine’, a special issue of Performance Research, and her work has been published in various edited collections.

• Introduction – Alex Mermikides (Kingston University, UK) and Gianna Bouchard (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)Part 1: Performing the Medical1. A Cabinet of (Medical) Performance Curiosities – Professor Jennifer Parker-Starbuck (University of Roehampton, UK)2. The Diagnostic Gaze: Nineteenth Century Contexts for Medicine and Performance – Associate Professor Kirsten Shepherd-Barr (University of Oxford, UK)3. The Bluer Flowers of the Medical Theatre: Visiting with Aliens, Poppies, and Antipodean Spas – Professor Petra Kuppers (University of Michigan, USA)4. Performing Surgery – Professor Roger Kneebone (Imperial College London, UK)Part 2: Performing Patients5. DOC: The narrative performance of expertise – P. Solomon Lennox (Northumbria University, UK) and Fiona Pettit (independent scholar, UK)6. Cough, Bitch, Cough: Reflections on Sickness and the Coughing Body in Performance – Martin O’Brien (freelance artist, UK)7. Fun with Cancer Patients: The Affect of Cancer – Brian Lobel (University of Chichester, UK)8. The Patient Performer: Embodied Pathography in Contemporary Productions – Emma Brodzinski (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)Part 3: Performing Body Parts9. Clod Ensemble: An Anatomie in Four Quarters. Some rehearsal notes – Suzy Willson (Clod Ensemble)10.The Pain of Specimenhood – Gianna Bouchard (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)11.On the emergent properties of death: When words fall apart – Helen Pynor (freelance artist, Australia)12.Performing the Microscopic: beyond eye and brain – Alex Mermikides (Kingston University, UK)13.Copy, Cut, Paste – Humans (Re-)Printed: Lynn Hershman Leeson’s The Infinity Engine (2014-) – Professor Gabriella Giannachi (University of Exeter, UK)NotesBibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex

Anyone who keeps an open mind will be impressed by the potential of performance to both inspire and be inspired by debate around medical ethics and healthcare issues.