Dr Ian Farnell
Teaching Fellow in Theatre and Performance
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Office: FAB1.43
I am an award-winning teacher leading on modules across the Theatre and Performance Studies undergraduate programme.
As a teacher and researcher, I am passionate about protecting and preserving the natural world. Through scholarship and other projects, I aim to explore the ways in which we enact care towards nature, both individually and collectively as well as on differing scales. Our relationship with nature is also the focus of my second-year module Wildwork. I have worked with the university's sustainability team to promote the importance of nature to our community, and have collaborated with colleagues from across multiple disciplines on climate change-related projects.
Beyond this, I have a longstanding interest in the intersection between theatre and science fiction. Following my monograph on this subject, I am editing a multi-volume collection on theatre, performance and “the fantastic”, encompassing fantasy, horror, the gothic, folklore, and other non-realist popular forms.
Publications
Monographs and edited collections
2025: Science Fiction and Contemporary British TheatreLink opens in a new window. Bloomsbury
Forthcoming: Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic Vol. 1: Stages and Scripts. Bloomsbury
Forthcoming: Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic Vol. 2: Practices and Politics. Bloomsbury
Articles
2021: 'Theatre, Science Fiction, and Care Robots: Embodying Contemporary Experiences of CareLink opens in a new window'. Theatre Journal 73 (3): pp.373-389
2020: ‘Science, Science Fiction, and Nick Payne’s Elegy: A Conceptual Third WayLink opens in a new window’. Studies in Theatre and Performance 40 (2): pp. 206-223
2019: ‘Science Fiction and the Theatre of Alistair McDowallLink opens in a new window’. Contemporary Theatre Review 29 (2): 121-137
2019: ‘In space, no one can hear you say you didn’t “get” it: theatre, science fiction, and genre snobbery’Link opens in a new window. Contemporary Theatre Review Interventions July 2019
2017: ‘Utopian dreams, dystopian realities in Lucy Kirkwood and Anne WashburnLink opens in a new window’. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 46 (128): 38-47
Book chapters
2025: 'Contemporary Theatre and Medical Science Fiction'. The Edinburgh Companion to Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities, ed. Gavin Miller, Anna McFarlane and Donna McCormack. Edinburgh University Press
2019: ‘Alistair McDowall’s X: Science Fiction Theatre’. Sci-Fi: A Companion, ed. Jack Fennell. 2019. Peter Lang
Awards
2025: Highly Commended, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
2024: Highly Commended, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
2023: Associate Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Study
2022: Winner, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
2021: Finalist, Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence
Teaching
Undergraduate modules 2024/25
Theatre and Performance in Context
Study Skills for Theatre and Performance
Wildwork: Theatre, Performance and the Natural World
Playwriting
Events and engagement
2025: Organiser, Wild WarwickLink opens in a new window. Covered by BBC Coventry & WarwickshireLink opens in a new window
2024: Core team member, Museum of Climate Stories
2023: Conference organiser, Performing the Fantastic in Contemporary CultureLink opens in a new window, University of Warwick
2019: Organiser and panel chair, “Staging the future”, British Science Festival