Gianna Bouchard

Professor of Contemporary Theatre, , Prof

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

I am interested in supervising postgraduate projects in any aspect of performance and medicine, in live art, in the politics of identity and in contemporary performance practice.

20082024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Biography

I originally trained in musical theatre at the Italia Conti Academy in London, followed by a number of years teaching drama, classical ballet and modern dance. I later graduated from Roehampton Institute, London, with a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies, then moving to the University of Reading to complete an MA in The Body and Representation, before returning to Roehampton for my PhD studies.

My PhD was titled ‘Performing the Anatomised Body’ and initiated my interest in the connections between medicine and performance. I have published widely on this interface, particularly as it relates to stagings of the female body.

My teaching has included a wide range of theoretical and practical modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including those focused on performance studies, politics and performance, dance theatre, live art, and devising performance.

Research interests

My research focuses on exploring specific medical discourses and practices, such as anatomical dissection, in order to analyse contemporary performance practice. My work has examined constructions of power and knowledge, ethics, visuality, spectatorship and theatricality in the work of ORLAN, Martin O'Brien and the Bodyworlds Exhibition, for instance, and has been published in a number of journals and edited collections, including Performance Research and Contemporary Theatre Review. My monograph, Performing Specimens: Biomedical Display in Contemporary Peformance was published by Bloomsbury Methuen in 2021. I have also published two co-edited books: Performance and the Medical Body (2016) and The Routledge Companion to Performance and Medicine (2024), both with Dr Alex Mermikides.

Recently, I have written chapters on surrogacy and issues of female reporoductive labour on the contemporary stage. I am currently developing work on performance and the NHS, with my collaborator, Alex Mermikides, and have plans to publish another monograph on theatre and biopolitics.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, Performing the Anatomised Body

Award Date: 4 Feb 2007

Master of Arts, The Body and Representation

Award Date: 14 Dec 1999

Bachelor of Arts, Drama and Theatre Studies

Award Date: 31 Jul 1998

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